Earlier this fall, every high school student in Hancock County had the opportunity to attend a convocation that focused on some intense and very personal issues, including bullying, suicide, drug use and mental health in general.
Although I shouldn’t have been, I was surprised by the alarming number of students who shared through real-time, online polling that they or someone they know has considered suicide, is depressed, or experiences anxiety. Overall, 65 percent of our high school students know someone who is struggling with suicidal thinking, and 35 percent have seriously considered it themselves in the past year. About 40 percent of our children believe they have a high level of anxiety, and 27 percent consider themselves very depressed or depressed more than an average teenager.
Those numbers are staggering to me, and I hope they are to you, too. I also hope you will support Greenfield and Hancock County citizens by letting go of the stigma attached to mental health issues. These numbers speak for themselves, and they say that mental health is putting our adolescents at a greater risk of not surviving than any other illness they could contract.
As a person who exercises regularly, I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with the treadmill. I hate to run, but I also know that hill work makes me stronger, so I endure strength days to get to a better me. Hills in life, those tougher-than-normal experiences, also make us stronger as long as we have the coping skills to make it through the climbs. What we learned from these convocations is our children are struggling to cope with the issues and anxiety in their lives. When that happens consistently and they can no longer function normally by attending school, managing their emotions, or maintaining healthy and appropriate relationships, it’s time to begin a discussion about supporting their mental health.
It’s time for our community to have some open and serious dialogue about mental health in order to destigmatize the fact that people struggle with brain health just like they do with physical health. There should be no reason why it’s more difficult to discuss depression than it is to discuss diabetes. Why do we think one is more embarrassing than the other? Why do our children have to identify their mental health concerns as “secret struggles” rather than just say they need to see someone about their emotional well-being?
While medication can certainly help many mental health issues, I also think there is more we can do as a community to prevent them from happening in the first place. The issues we saw revealed during the convocation aren’t limited to high school students. Ask my colleagues at the lower grade levels and they’ll tell you they see the same issues all the way down to kindergarten. Let’s begin a real discussion in Greenfield and Hancock County about how we support our youngest citizens by equipping them with coping and relaxation skills. Let’s participate in the dialogue that Hancock Health and Healthy 365 want to start about what services we should have locally to do this. And, finally, when someone says they are struggling with anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts, listen to them, hear them, and find a way to encourage them up that hill so they can come through on the other side stronger and better.
Kim Kile is the director of school counseling at Greenfield-Central High School. She can be reached at [email protected]. Send comments to [email protected].
