Advocates maintain momentum with teen mental health needs

Three Nevada teens on Sept. 9 reinforced the importance of sharing among their peers that it’s okay not to be okay and get the help they need.

Discussion during Hope Means Nevada’s fourth virtual statewide discussion on teen mental health challenges examined school resources, wraparound services and legislative priorities with a focus on helping students and family members.

Hope Means Nevada representatives, including the teen members, acknowledged September as National Suicide Prevention Month, during which many schools around the state often provide screenings to help young people identify signs of depression

Grace Netski, a senior attending Faith Lutheran High School in Summerlin, has worked with HMN for the past five years. She shared the power of maintaining 24-hour access to the anonymous 988 National Suicide Prevention Hotline number by phone or text when a student is struggling with depression or suicide ideation. Filling out a required screening at school is the less preferred method and can create discomfort or prevent teens from sharing their mental or emotional state, she said.

“It could be lifechanging for someone to have the resource 24/7 and it’s easy to understand what the hotline does,” Netski said. “Sometimes we’ll do a suicide prevention screening, but not everyone is super honest with that because it’s not anonymous. Not everybody’s super comfortable. … Not everybody struggles the same way.”

Chase Williams, a student at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, said he felt it’s not wrong to feel ashamed about emotion and thought it was important to advocate more for youth.

“I feel like a stigma present at school is being vulnerable especially when it comes to mental health,” Williams said. “Social media gives a false presence of reality. We start to compare ourselves and see all these positive things on social media, like going to the beach and we see smiling friends. It’s okay to not be okay.”

Addison Clark, a Teen Hope Network member in Reno who has participated in past discussions, summarized the turnout for April’s Teen Night Out at the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum and said 1,000 youth attended. Clark said HMN kept the momentum going with its support through its teen mental health leadership program. Approximately 20 student leaders visited nine schools after taking intensive training on mental health and safe messaging, she said, and they will serve on various panels, help interpret conversations with adults and assist as needed.

“We had an amazing 200 teens fill out Google forms,” she said. “…Now we have a group of steady, secure kids willing to speak with adults and doing what I’ve been doing in Northern Nevada.”

Also during the discussion, Dr. Tara Raines, deputy director of the Children’s Advocacy Alliance in Las Vegas, a statewide policy nonprofit that seeks to assist children and families in key areas, said it has determined its mental health priorities for the upcoming legislative session among stakeholders and partners in the state. Concerns include creating an office of children’s mental health, streaming licensure and accountability processes for clinicians, developing a bachelor’s level mental health program and child-focused mental health graduate programs to maintain interest for interns or to keep students within Nevada, among others.

Counselors from Nevada’s larger school districts Clark and Washoe gave a brief recap on progress made in the past year on crisis response, guardrails they’ve established providing supports to students and families and introducing site interventions to administrators and counselors.

Washoe County School District’s Megan Evans, crisis mental health professional counselor, shared teachers and support professionals use restorative practices. She added new Superintendent Joe Ernst is stressing attendance to keep students engaged through positive messaging.

“(Students) need to know (teachers) are welcoming in our schools,” Evans said. “They need to know they have our trust.”

For more information, visit www.hopemeansnevada.org and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.