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dolescence is a difficult time for many young people. But add mental illness on top of normal teenage stresses and hormonal shifts, and life can seem nearly impossible for teens.
Experts have been aware of the prevalence of mental illness in youth for decades, but all too often the young people at the very center of this issue get left out of the discussion.
A relatively new conference on youth culture aims to bring young voices alongside those of experts in the conversation on mental illness. Called “Ask Me Who I Am,” the title of the second-annual conference refers to the fact that adults — sometimes even those in the mental health field — often aren’t asking young people the right questions, or any questions at all, to address their mental well-being.
“This is our attempt to create that intentional space where people can come together and have conversations together,” says Tynisha Worthy, one of the conference’s organizers, “and hopefully understanding how we can go back into our respective spaces and augment, improve, transform the way we engage.”
The event will involve young people, families, mental health professionals and community members in a day-long series of presentations March 31 at the Kingsgate Conference Center. Its organizers say they hope to spark conversations about the often-overlooked and misunderstood world of youth mental illness, which most often first shows up during teen years and young adulthood.
One in five kids ages 13 to 18 has or will have some type of mental illness, with the first symptoms often showing up during the teen years, according to the nonprofit National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Fifty percent of people experience symptoms of a lifelong mental illness by age 14, and 75 percent by age 24.
The conference will feature workshops on topics such as homelessness and LGBT youth; trauma and toxic stress; and activities that can help young people fight anxiety and depression. It is presented by the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board’s Journey to Successful Living program, which works to address mental health needs of youth ages 14 to 21, and Talbert House, a nonprofit focusing on addiction and mental health.
One class will teach yoga breathing exercises, while another will focus on combatting stress through drawing repetitive patterns called “zen doodles.” Attendees will also learn about the various community resources available for mental health and how to recognize the warning signs leading up to suicide.
Some activities are open exclusively to young people, like a spoken-word poetry session in the morning and an evening celebration featuring African drumming, poetry, art, dancing and a DJ.
The program’s keynote speaker, Kevin Hines, is an activist for mental health and author of a memoir about his own unsuccessful suicide attempt after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder as a teen.
“He talks about the things he was experiencing that seemed to be typically adolescent behavior, but was actually, in fact, parallel signs and symptoms of mental illness,” Worthy says. “He wished that people would have asked him questions or asked him if he was OK.”
David Weaver, founder of the Americorps program Public Allies Cincinnati, will be presenting a workshop to help those in the mental health field better define their goals and strategies when helping youth. He also echoes the sentiment that the youth voice is often ignored and misunderstood by adults.
“I think that as adults we just assume that we know better. As adults we assume that we have the widest breadth of information,” Weaver says. “We have the clearest track to what the solutions are.”
Since the start of 2016, two Cincinnati Public Schools students have committed suicide. A 16-year-old boy in East Price Hill died on Jan. 26 followed by a 12-year-old Westwood boy just a few days later on Jan. 31.
The two deaths received a lot of attention from local media and on social media, which has helped bring attention to issues surrounding teen mental health.
CPS Superintendent Mary Ronan sent out a letter on Feb. 3 that said the district was planning a series of talks for grades 5 through 12 on resources available for those experiencing depression and thoughts of suicide. The letter also included information on ways parents can address the topic with their children.
According to the Youth Gap Analysis report commissioned by the city’s Human Services, Youth and Arts committee, 9 percent of CPS students were diagnosed with emotional or behavioral conditions in the 2012-2013 school year. Sixty-one percent of community providers of youth services said mental health was one of the most important health needs for young people, and 51 percent said mental health services and hotlines were necessary to help parents, according to the report.
Councilwoman Yvette Simpson chairs the Human Services, Youth and Arts committee and spearheaded the report.
“I talk with a lot of our young people,” Simpson says. “I work with a lot of our young people, and you can just hear it. I mean, you can just hear it. Most of it is just, ‘I’m dealing with a lot and no one listens to me,’ and they feel like they’re talked at. They’re judged.”
Simpson says the issue of mental health is a concern that is frequently brought up in the annual Youth Summit, a youth-led conference where teens are invited to express their biggest concerns, and was also a major issue expressed by teens in the study.
Carolyn Jones, project director at Hamilton County Mental Health, who also is on CPS’s school board and is one of Ask My Who I Am’s organizers, says bringing together the community and young people to educate them about mental health and teen suicide helps diminish the stigma and shame often attached to it.
“Young people who experience mental illness often are isolated and not accepted among their peers because they look different or act different,” Jones says. “And it’s very important that they come together and do things with their peers because they live in the community just like everybody.”
The conference has taken significant steps to better involve young people since its inception last year.
Worthy points out that last year their portion was restricted to an evening youth celebration with activities specifically tailored toward their age group. The program has been adjusted to encourage youth to attend and participate alongside experts, parents and community members for the entire day.
This year, the conference was scheduled during Cincinnati Public Schools’ spring break and made free for those 21 and younger. The cost is $75 for adults to attend, but parents and caretakers receive a discounted rate of $30.
There has been an increase in the number of young people signed up this year. Of the 145 people who have signed up so far, 125 of those are young people. In contrast, 75 young people attended the evening youth celebration last year. ©
This article appears in Mar 23-30, 2016.
