Teaching About Mental Health Is Vital !!!

Recently NBC news reported that there is a growing number of parents who do not want mental health taught in the classroom.  Let that sink in! A growing number of parents who don't seem to care that: 

1 in 6 U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year

50% of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-34

(https://www.nami.org/mhstats)

That the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth, 

Estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth seriously consider suicide per year.

And in that past few months there have been several news articles about 

The impact of COVID on the mental health of kids as young as 8 years old.

  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/well/mind/mental-health-kids-suicide.html

Now I don't think the protesting parents actually want their children to suffer from mental illness or to feel all alone in the world. Don't actually want their children to feel like they have no reason to keep going, no reason to be alive. I think these parents simply are in denial that so many children are suffering and need support. That their child might be suffering. 

For those who struggle with their mental health, putting up a mask of being "fine" is common. This means that parents can't tell if their child is suffering just from appearances. Also in some cases children don't have the language to describe what they are experiencing unless they are given that language in school. 

This reminds me of an author who wrote a character who had panic attacks, and then was contacted by a older adult who was like I have experienced what that character experiences all my life but I thought I was all alone. The author explained the character was having panic attacks and told the reader to talk with their healthcare professional. 

This was an adult reader which means it is even more likely that a child would not know what they were experiencing. I also know of too many antidotal examples of celebrities who struggled attempted suicide in their youth because they did not see a way out. 

Actors such as Rupert Graves (Lestrade in Sherlock) who attempted suicide at age 15 because of a combo of depression and body image issue. Or my Wentworth Miller (Captain Cold) who suffered from depression, attempted suicide at age 15, did not tell anyone, and later attempted again as a freshman in collage. 

I know so many people who have struggled with mental health in the past, or are currently struggling with their mental health so talking about mental health is personal. I know friends who suffer from depression, I know friends who struggle with anxiety, and I know friends who long before I ever knew them had periods of suicidal ideation. I also know I have had period of my life that were much harder than they needed to be because I was unable or unwilling to reach out and ask for help.

We all need to talk about mental health. We all need access to mental health resources. We all need to know that we are not alone and that there are people who are willing to stand by our sides no matter what we are experiencing. And this needs to start with children in schools. 

Children need to know what to do when their thoughts are to loud, or when they feel like hurting themselves. If children are given information around mental health they can advocate for themselves and be more likely to survive to become amazing and wonderful adults. Why would anyone not want this for their children?