When my son was 16 and a junior in high school, we hit a really rough patch. His anxiety was through the roof and he was spending a lot of time isolating himself in his room or going on long bike rides where we didn’t know where he was. He was having panic attacks and suicidal ideation.
As parents, we were unsure what to do. This was the first time we needed help and didn’t know where to turn. Our kids were in one of the best school districts in the state, but they didn’t have the resources necessary to help us navigate where to go or what to do. We knew we needed to get him help, but there were huge waiting lists for kids under 18 to be seen by someone who might be able to prescribe him some medication to help. We were so afraid for him and literally had nowhere to turn.
In 2022 United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County started a teen wellness initiative called Empowering Minds. This initiative is a school-based mental health plan. By 2022 my son was out of high school and doing much better, he was able to get on medication that helps him and is now an independent 22-year-old. I was so grateful that United Way decided to take on school-based mental health because I know that there are many parents who face the same thing we did.
I will discuss my United Way's Mental Wellness initiative on a new show that I launched with Neil Parekh, “Shining Light on Shadows: A Candid Conversation About Mental Health” Thursday, October 17 at 6pm CT / 7pm ET. Steven Berbeco, from United Way of Northwest Vermont will be our guest. He's the director of their Mental Health Initiative.
You can watch the live show or the recording on Facebook, Twitter*, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram or Neil's website.
*We won't know the exact urls for Twitter and Instagram until we go live. These links go to Neil's Twitter and my Instagram.
Data from the CDC shows us that more than a third of high school students reported they experienced poor mental health during COVID-19. The details are staggering. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youths 15 to 29 years old. Depression, eating disorders, and substance use are common among this age group. (Unitedwaygmwc.org)
United Way’s initiative, Teen Mental Wellness: Empowering Minds, has 9 participating high schools that are working on meeting 6 milestones. The goal is to elevate the mental wellness of 21,000 high school students by 2030. The six milestones consist of each school doing a needs assessment to determine the assets and needs of the school.
Collaboration, which develops a Comprehensive School Mental Health System that relies on collaboration across key stakeholders.
Referral pathways, which is achieved when the school improves referral pathways by establishing a school mental health team to map available resources and interventions.
Comprehensive resources, which is achieved when the school offers an array of mental health promotion, early intervention, and treatment services for students, staff, and caregivers.
Sustainability, which is achieved when the school identifies strategies that optimize financial and nonfinancial assets needed to maintain and improve the program.
Comprehensive School Mental Health System and Evaluation, which is achieved when the school collects both quantitative and qualitative data to inform priorities and action steps to continuously improve the Comprehensive School Mental Health System.
Looking back at the time when my son was experiencing a mental health crisis, even if one of these milestones were in place at his school we would have had somewhere to start. My hope is that as more and more schools are added in our four counties, more and more families will have access to resources that will help them when their child is experiencing mental health concerns. I feel very fortunate to work for an organization that thinks that mental health and wellness are a priority in our community,
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