Our Opinion: Let’s talk about it
We’ve heard it over and over and over again. Keep religion out of schools. Keep sex education out of schools. Keep… Okay, enough.
Clearly, it’s worth a try.
Are we all in agreement that this world is going to hell in a handbasket?
School shootings, racial wars, drugs, drugs, and more drugs.
Whether it’s a worse generation than previous ones, it can’t hurt to talk about the issues we are dealing with today.
Can it?
So, a heartfelt thank you goes to anyone bringing mental health awareness to the forefront.
There’s always been a stigma.
“People think it’s embarrassing,” Kari Swanson of CORE (Choosing Openness Regarding Experiences) said. “They look around and think that everybody else is ‘normal.'”
That’s not the case. It’s just society’s way of not having to talk about something uncomfortable.
“We all struggle,” she said.
But we’ve come a long way since insane asylums and inhumane treatments. At least we’d like to think.
We are more aware than ever of hidden anxiety, bullying, and just how difficult being a young person is today.
So, let’s talk about it.
Government mandates aside, Swanson and Warren County School District Superintendent Amy Stewart have had conversations about increasing mental health programming in schools.
CORE will be bringing programming to the district’s schools at least every other month, Swanson said.
“The kids are going to see it first,” she said.
“We teach reading, writing, and math,” Swanson said. “We have to teach coping skills.”
Teaching teachers, teaching parents, grandparents, etc. will follow.
“We are not mental health providers,” said Stewart.
At the same time, “the kids are in our schools,” she said.
September is Suicide Prevention Month. There’s no better time to start.
We’ll start with movies and guest speakers for the students.
The movie, Angst — www.angstmovie.com — will be shown to middle- and high-schoolers first.
“Angst highlights the issue of anxiety in youth and the interpretation that is sometimes made by teachers, parents, friends, etc., of the person who is struggling with anxiety,” Swanson said. “This is told by youths as young as 11 about their experiences with anxiety.”
CORE is also bringing a young man in to speak in November — to present his real-life experiences to the middle- and high-school students in Warren, Eisenhower, Youngsville, and Sheffield.
This is real life, and we all need help with it.
We commend Swanson, Stewart, and the district for being so passionate about mental health education.
There’s always been a stigma, and maybe there always will be.
But someday soon it might be okay for someone not to be okay.
If it’s one of our children, there might be someone better equipped to help them.
Let’s talk about it.
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