“Hey, dude, are you OK?”
This simple question, asked in a supportive, nonjudgmental way, can change or even save a life, said Paul Richard, executive director of the SHINE Initiative to “shine a light” on mental illness, while speaking to a small audience May 17 in the Bromfield library. He cited a group of recovering suicidal young people who kept one another safe by asking this question among themselves every day. It’s knowing someone cares and that you can talk about it that makes the difference, said Richard, adding that the question is just as effective without the “dude.”
Richard’s presentation is called “Nothing to Hide,” and he began his talk by showing his commitment to this title, sharing personal stories of mental illness in his own family. He held up his hand to show a paper flower ring that his 7-year-old granddaughter had made and asked him to wear. This 7-year-old had been hospitalized in intensive care for behavior resulting from traumatic experiences. She is now in a special recovery facility, one of only two such places in the state, with a limited number of beds between them. He went on to say that five of the 14 members in his three-generation family have depression, anxiety, or bipolar disease. His message is that mental illness is nothing to hide: “It is just that—an illness—and it neither defines you nor limits what you can be.” He said his family copes by being open and supportive.
The idea that mental illness is nothing to hide is the most important message Richard wants to convey to young people. He was at Bromfield for two days, speaking to groups of 40 to 45; he said the smaller numbers allow him to really connect with the students; he wants them to feel comfortable enough to seek help if they need it.
The SHINE Initiative presentations, part of a larger program on mental illness, were funded by the Harvard Schools Trust at the initiative of Bromfield psychology teacher Kathleen Doherty. The grant also enabled a speaker in April and a photo-text exhibit, “Nothing to Hide: Mental Illness in the Family,” put together by Family Diversity Projects Inc. of Amherst, which was at the library for three weeks and at Bromfield this week. Helping Doherty create the program were school psychologist Dr. Susan Downing, adjustment counselor Susan Chlapowski, and Elizabeth Hoorneman, art teacher in grades 9 to 12.
Raising awareness
Richard described how, 12 years ago, Fidelity Bank of Leominster used most of its charitable donation budget to begin the SHINE Initiative to increase awareness of mental illness in children and young adults. When Richard became executive director, after a long career in mental health, the group was doing mostly research. He stepped back to ask how the organization could be of immediate help to those touched every day by mental illness. Noting that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness can be detected by the age of 14, he asked what the SHINE Initiative could do about that.
First was to raise awareness and educate people to seek early diagnosis in order to address and manage the illness. Now the mission statement of the SHINE Initiative is to be “a leader in the effort to recognize mental illness in children and young adults as a mainstream health issue.” We have become a conversation starter, said Richard, and we begin by addressing young people.
In his school presentations, Richard asks students what they do when they have a cold or stomachache that makes them too sick to go to school. The usual answer is that they tell a parent so they can get help to feel better. It is the same with depression or anxiety or any other mental illness—you have to tell someone who can help you find the resources you need. “Asking for help is the first step to getting help,” said Richard.
But a person suffering from mental illness is often reluctant to ask for help. Often an observant friend or caregiver needs to take the initiative to draw out the sick person and then to be a good listener in a nonjudgmental way, said Richard. Parents are often in denial or too overwhelmed to start the conversation. But if there is no conversation, there can be no way to get better, he said, recalling the silence and isolation that surrounded the mentally ill until quite recently. And, he added, there is still a stigma around mental illness, a set of false beliefs. The SHINE Initiative is fighting to erase the stigma and hopes that by adding more voices, society will demand that we deal with this mainstream issue.
Alarming statistics
Richard has alarming statistics on the high incidence of mental illness among young people—one in every five will be affected at any given time—and only two out of three young people with mental illness are getting the help they need. According to 12 superintendents in the area, the number of kids kept from academic success because of behavioral issues stemming from mental illness “has exploded.” Richard talked about possible causes, including the idea that societal changes like the increase in single-parent homes, homelessness, parental addiction and neglect, and increased violence affect young people and cause actual damage to the development of the brain, which continues to grow until a person is in his early 20s. He listed some signs of illness—a child’s becoming withdrawn; changes in sleep, eating, and activity; or increased anger—emphasizing that these behaviors have to last for a period of two weeks to raise concern about a serious problem.
But the most important part of Richard’s presentation is to give schools the tools to start conversations and to bring resources to young people in need. He pointed out that graduates often comment that they were well prepared for college academically, but not emotionally and socially. SHINE outreach worker Megan Sullivan described some of the activities she sets up for students: walks for awareness, health and wellness fairs, and youth advocacy clubs in schools. Recently SHINE sponsored a student mental wellness summit, where 60 students from seven high schools exchanged ideas. Students from Leominster High School started LEAD (Let’s empower, advocate, do), a mental health curriculum that may soon be approved for addition to regular high school health curricula in schools throughout the state.
