by Brooke D.
As the mother of an addict who is has been in and out of recovery for the past three years who has also struggled with depression for most of his life, I have had to learn to focus on my life.
In Al anon I learned that I can be “happy whether the alcoholic is drinking or not.” I have chosen to apply that to all aspects of my son’s mental and physical health.
Specifically, here are some of the things I do to take care of myself on a daily and weekly basis. The more he … Read more...
by a middle schooler
Note from Anne Moss: When I spoke at the Shady Grove YMCA, there were mostly parents, but a few teens there and one of them talked to me after about the culture at her middle school. Quite different than most of us think although having been in schools and in the Y with teens, this came as no surprise to me. This isn’t just one school. This is common and indicates our culture has a problem. After we talked, the … Read more...
This group raises awareness of mental illness and substance use disorder. The students have come up with the ideas and once a week in home room are presenting or doing an activity related to mental health. Last week it was Kevin Hines Golden Gate Bridge video.
I went in today to show them this exercise. I call it the Resilience Game. It’s very simple and easy to execute and teachers themselves don’t run it. The students do. I figured why not let them lead this one? Since do something every week, they are looking for ideas.
The atmosphere at … Read more...
I did an event for the Regional YMCA Leader’s Club Rally. Leader’s Club is a club for teens. I so enjoyed myself. I asked the rally coordinator, Janice, for feedback. Since it was the first time I’d done this suicide prevention and resilience type exercise with the teenagers, I felt like it went well due to the engagement but couldn’t know for sure. I started with my story and was entirely emotionally naked about how I felt when I heard the news and how I fought back to forgive myself after my son’s suicide and what I learned in that … Read more...
… Read more...I wanted to thank you for sharing your story and taking the time to engage with the youth. Many teens left your class reflecting on life and ready to open up about the issues they were facing with the other adult teen/youth workers at the YMCA Leader’s Club Regional rally.
Your class was a bridge that encouraged teens and some of the attending parents to have those difficult conversations about self love, authenticity, depression and teen suicide. One teen in particular, who identifies as transgender, expressed how your class helped him identify and accept who he is becoming. He also
At 55 seconds into this video called Letter to God, Charles raps:
After his friend Max sent me this video of Charles after his death by suicide, I remember understanding how adversely effected he was by the shooting tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. At the … Read more...
I visited Cosby High School Health Science Students in Chesterfield County and presented on a topic no one wants to talk about: mental illness, addiction and suicide.
I told them my personal story about Charles. Actually, I taught two health science classes. Then we did a skit, “How heroin talked to Charles” and one dr Seuss-like poems on drugs and one on resilience. Voice was still awful but had a grand time.
After, these kids decided they wanted to send me letters to say thank you. Their idea. The most heartfelt, touching letters I have ever gotten. This is my … Read more...
by Ellie Mast and Aaliyah Adkins, Co-Creators of River Jam
Seniors in the Leadership and International Relations Center at JRHS
As part of our Leadership and International Relations Center curriculum, we were tasked with creating a 60-hour service project that embodies the four cornerstones of leadership: perspectives, communications, ethics, and service. We spent countless hours thinking of what kind of event we should create that would benefit a charity that inspired us. After seeing the devastating toll of mental illnesses … Read more...
I have had the honor of visiting with this group, No Eagle Left Behind on several occasions now from Godwin High School in Henrico County. They have explored several programs and have planned an assembly with the school that focuses on mental illness. And they made this video which rocks. I’ll be in there again for the assembly with a teen speaker from Cameron Gallagher Foundation and for an opportunity for me to talk about the #umatter or #umatterchallenge through Beacon Tree Foundation.
Alex Chaffee from Cosby High School has helped me with this program in addition to Haley, … Read more...
Like me, they’ve had enough.
They see no logic in the tradition of mental health stigma. Such a lousy, pointless tradition.
They are tired of classmates suffering. They are tired of being silent.
Now that the wave has started, I predict that we’ll have a whole new attitude toward stigma by next year this time.
Thanks to Alex Chaffee and other teens I will be highlighting here on this blog. And there are a lot more in this area speaking up and not tolerating … Read more...
Adolescence is when things with Charles started falling apart–around 2010. I was scrambling around trying to help him keep it all together. I started to see signs that were alarming but I couldn’t get a handle on it.
In 5th grade and middle school, Charles’ teachers kept telling me that he was unprepared for class and was often jumpy and nervous when he realized everyone had their materials out but him. It was all still manageable enough at this age.
He did have ADHD. And a sleep disorder. But I felt like I didn’t have the whole picture. I researched non-stop.… Read more...
Check out the video the teens did! Thanks to Alex Chaffee, teen leader and member of the Swift Creek YMCA Leader’s Club for her help in leading the charge on this social media mental illness acceptance and suicide prevention program! And to all the students who stood up against the stigma of mental illness.
I doubt I could have gotten a team of adults to do this video. So who’s gonna erase stigma? High school students like these guys!
If you want to bring this simple, 2-week program to your school, contact me. This program is through Beacon Tree Foundation, advocates … Read more...
In order to see that the evidence-based Preventure Adolescent Drug Prevention Program is implemented here in Virginia, we need letters of support from educators. Directions below.
A letter shows interest on the part of the school to participate in such trial. The main purpose of these letters is to show to NIH … Read more...
With suicide attempts so prevalent, what are we doing about transitioning kids from psychiatric hospitals back to the school environment?
Transitioning kids back to school after a suicide attempt should be similar to integrating a child who had missed school for major surgery or cancer treatments. In other words, you treat that absence like you would any other major absence and follow the same policy you have for that transition.
The following is the ideal scenario, however, some rural and smaller schools don’t have these kinds of resources so follow what you can when you can.
by Jody Bee
This is not to take the place of appropriate mental health care. It is a self-help guide is for those who self harm and want to stop but are not sure how from a woman who has struggled and managed to break the vicious cycle of self harm.
Self-harm is on the rise at an alarming rate, not only amongst teens but adults as well. If you are sitting in a classroom or a school auditorium, glance around you.
Would you think that any of the people you see, be it friends or strangers have self-inflicted scars, bruises … Read more...
