HANCOCK COUNTY — He didn’t have any friends. He didn’t have any siblings. His parents love him, he knows that; but it didn’t feel like enough. He felt alone. He didn’t think his life was worth living.
These were the feelings a local student shared during one of seven assemblies held recently at local high schools, during which teens were polled about depression, anxiety, drug-use and other problems they face.
The responses revealed a student body hurting more than organizers of the event expected.
More than half of Hancock County students say they know someone who struggles with thoughts of suicide. Some 35 percent admitted they had seriously considered ending their own life in the last year.
This student told the crowd he’d felt such pain since he was a little boy. This was the first time he’d told a soul, he said.
Officials working to address youth mental illness and drug-use in Hancock County brought RemedyLIVE, a Fort Wayne-based nonprofit, to county schools, where they hosted a one-hour interactive assembly — called Get Schooled — featuring live music and a live poll of 10 questions related to mental health and substance abuse.
Roughly 2,300 of the county’s students attended one of the seven convocations, said Amanda Hinkle, Hancock Regional Hospital’s system of care coordinator. Afterward, she and school administrators met to discuss what plans they could put into action to help the students who shared their struggles.
Now, leaders in both systems plan to work together to offer suicide prevention training to students and parents throughout the community. They’re working to create peer groups to help teens advocate for each other, and they’re planning to host more mental health-focused community events.
Hinkle said the convocations at each county school were emotional and moving, and a large number of students came to small-group talks offered after each event. Staff and administrators stayed for hours to talk with students about their feelings, she said; one discussion lasted more than four hours.
Teens opened up about many hurts: bullying, the pressures of academics, things they’d seen happen at home and things that happened to them.
“Kids told us things you wouldn’t even imagine,” Hinkle said. “When we asked if they’d ever told someone, they said no.”
What students learned during that time was that their feelings would take time to heal, but they aren’t alone, Hinkle said.
And it the days that followed the assemblies, nearly 200 students from Hancock County texted a crisis line offered by RemedyLIVE, seeking further help — something organizers of the events say they weren’t expecting.
“As a provider, I knew the community is struggling,” said Amanda Everidge, a licensed social worker who also helped in the talk rooms. “What I didn’t anticipate was the number of students who needed help immediately afterward.”
School guidance counselors know all too well that depression and anxiety is a huge problem among teens.
“We’ve seen that develop more through the years,” said Kim Kile, director of counseling at Greenfield-Central High School. “It’s a trend we deal with on a daily basis: a student who can’t get to class or school because of the overwhelming emotions they’re dealing with.”
On average, 16 percent of students polled at the Get Schooled events said they felt more depressed than the average person. About 11 percent said they felt very depressed.
Nearly 40 percent of students polled said they live with a high level of anxiety.
A quarter of the students said if they were struggling with something, they would talk to their parents about it; and about 41 percent said they’d talk to friends their own age. But roughly 23 percent said they wouldn’t talk to anyone about what’s troubling them.
The Get Schooled tour also revealed to organizers that illegal drugs, including opioids, are something teens are struggling with, Hinkle said.
On average, 5 percent of students in each session said they had used Oxycontin, Vicodin or another drug not prescribed to them in the last six months.
Three percent of students said they had used heroin or fentanyl in that time period.
“It’s been eye-opening for schools to learn that students are getting a hold of serious drugs and using them,” Hinkle said.
Now, those same officials are getting to work and forming plans to addresses these issues.
After the convocations, stakeholders regrouped quickly. Hospital staff met with school counselors and administrators the week after the event and began brainstorming solutions. The discussions included creating mental health groups at county high schools and offering suicide-prevention training to students and their parents free of charge.
Hinkle hopes each school district will establish student-led support groups, where teens can share their struggles and triumphs.
It’s clear from the students’ response that talking help, organizers said.
In the weeks following the Get Schooled visits, each school saw an increase in students reaching out to school counselors, not only about their own mental health, but the health of others in their classes as well, Everidge said.
“Now that they have this more open environment, they’ve been able to reach students who wouldn’t say anything (before),” she said.
Greenfield-Central Schools recently hired a mental health counselor in partnership with Hancock Regional Hospital, who is now available on-site to students at the middle and high school, Kile said.
“It will bring support and counseling to the school directly, so students won’t have to miss school,” she said. “They will hopefully see school as a safe place and be able to get through the really heavy emotions they’re dealing with.”
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A series of convocations held in county schools recently polled high school students and some eighth-graders live, asking questions about their mental health, drug use and other concerns.
Here’s a snapshot of county students’ responses during the convocations:
Note: Not every student answered every question; so these are the average responses in a pool of between 1,900 and 2,500 students who attended the convocations.
Depression and anxiety
16 percent of students said they felt more depressed than the average person.
11 percent of students said they felt very depressed.
40 percent of students said they live with a high level of anxiety.
65 percent of students said they know someone who struggles with suicidal thoughts.
35 percent of students said they had seriously considered ending their life in the last year.
Student concerns
32 percent of students said illegal drugs concern them most at their school.
16 percent of students said bullying was their foremost concern at their school.
23 percent of students said mental health their school’s biggest issue.
Drugs and alcohol
23 percent of students said they have used alcohol in the last six months.
12 percent of students said they have used tobacco in the last six months.
17 percent of students said they have used marijuana in the last six months.
4 percent of students said they have used K2, spice, or synthetic cannabinoids in the last six months.
5 percent of students said they have used Oxycontin, Vicodin or other drugs not prescribed to them in the last six months.
4 percent of students said they have used cocaine or crack in the last six months.
3 percent of students said they have used heroin, fentanyl in the last six months.
Source: Hancock Health
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