4

Special

Its not all in our heads

its time to acknowledge mental

%
38

10%

of youth with a major depressive episode received treatment,

according to the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration

of Sequoia students
attempted suicide in the
last 12 months

It gets better different

What happened? I would freak out and lie about

HE NUMBER ONE LIE Ive heard regarding
how I had a rash and needed a Band-Aid to cover it to
depression: it gets better. This may be some old
stop from itching.
wives tale we need to make ourselves feel better, but
My best friend noticed the cuts and told me if I did it again she
heres the truth: with mental illness things dont get betwould tell my parents. I stopped for a little while, but my junior year I
ter, they get different.
started cutting again. All three years of high school I began to miss school
I dont remember a definitive starting point of having
more frequently because I was sick, but in reality I just didnt want to
depression, but once I learned the term depression in
get out of bed. The more I missed school, the more
seventh grade, something clicked,
and I thought hey this could be I know therapy wont change my stressed I was and the sadder I felt.
Throughout this time I knew
me.
life; it wont make it perfect, but I
When I was in middle school, am different now, stronger. I never I needed to get help. I knew I
my parents both got full-time jobs thought I would be able to share needed to tell someone. I tried to
for the first time in my life, and my my story like this; I was so afraid get help but was discouraged by
the lack of accessibility to combrother went to high school, and I of judgement.
pletely confidential counseling
would stay at home alone and feel
without needing consent from a teacher or
increasingly lonely. I began to try and lose weight as I felt
parent, and without filling out a form.
so insecure about my body; I was taller than every boy
Then in December of my junior year, I
and girl in my class. Sometimes when I was feeling parhad a physical and decided to tell the doctor.
ticularly bad I would hold a knife to my wrist and will
The doctor persuaded me to tell my family,
myself to cut. I thought I was a coward because I didnt.
and after that I started therapy.
When I started high school I had a lot of trouble adIve been going to therapy for ten months
justing to the change. Thats one thing that is incredibly
now. Things have gotten different. Ive learned to
hard with depression and anxietyits very hard to let
untwist my thinking and to communicate better and
go and move on. My closest friends from middle school
to power through my homework even when I feel reeither went to a different school or found different friend
ally sad. Ive stopped cutting.
groups. I would eat lunch in my biology class and do
But things have also been incredibly hard. Ive had to
homework so I wouldnt look like I didnt have friends. I
be the most vulnerable Ive ever been. Cried the hardest and
continued to eat less and manage what I ate to try and be
longest. Ive had to acknowledge painful things in the past
skinny and often didnt feel hungry due to stress. It was
and try to piece it together.
hard being at school, pretending to be happy seemed like
Depression feels like riding a wave sometimes. Its a lot of
a natural instinct at this point but I would look back and
up and down. I know therapy wont change my life; it wont
think was I really smiling and laughing or just faking it?
make it perfect, but I am different now, stronger. I never
I found a solid group of friends second semester of
thought I would be able to share my story like this; I
freshman year, but I was still sad. My sophomore year I
was so afraid of judgement. But now I realize this
began to cut.
is a part of the new me, the one who is not afraid
This part always stands out to people, but self-harm
to start the conversation, and I urge you to start
is just a mal-adaptive coping skill, and as I didnt tell
talking too.
anyone what I was going through, I felt it was a way of
dealing with my pain. People would notice the marks
on my arm or the Band-Aids and would ask are you ok?
BY ABIGAIL WANG
Image by Emma OHara

Community programs offer support network

The first piece of advice: get help.
But that can prove more difficult than
it seems, with the lack of awareness of
where to get help and what types are
available. At Sequoia, teachers and experts are available to talk to students.
The Teen Resource Center (TRC) offers counseling five days a week and is
completely free. Therapy can be conducted in Spanish or Tongan.
My job is to meet with [students]
and assess what is going on, listen and
see what I can do to support and sometimes thats just one meeting to make
them feel better in that moment, and
sometimes theres longer term needs,
TRC therapist Laurie Karzen said.
Karzen believes the stigma surrounding mental health issues can be erased.

Therapy or counseling is just talking to someone about what is going on

in your life. We dont have any magic
wands, we arent attaching electrodes to
anyones heads, Karzen said, its just
regular human interaction that allows
people to let go of whats going on inside
and [have someone knowledgeable] reflect back suggestions for shifting that.
Besides the TRC, some teachers are
doing things to acknowledge the bad
days that everyone has. Teacher Jane
Woodman has a vegetable garden policy for students who are having a bad day.
Students can sit in the gardenthe
corner with couches and pillowsand
they will not be called on.
Im attempting to acknowledge that
we all have days where we just cant make

18

of Sequoia
contemplate
20

it happen. Its sort of honoring our humanity and giving students a chance to
take a period off, if they need to just be.
Woodman tries acknowledge when
school gets more stressful.
Its silly, but having a stuffed animal
for Individual Oral Commentaries and
other little things like that can be really
helpful. Sometimes students need more
than that, of course, but its a good start
to have these little nuggets of humanity
and humor to acknowledge that students
are humans dealing with a lot of things.
Students can also help promote mental health recognition by joining the
Youth Advisory Board (YAB). Every year
the YAB puts out a survey asking about
sexual activity, alcohol consumption,
drug use and mental health.

Depression and anxiet

visual attempts to repre
like. The three images re
tal health. The flames su
exterior signs of depressi
creeping up in each ima

Mental healt
overhaul of the e
som

Greet each student at the d

the beginning of classthi
guaranteed one-on-one int
each student and can serve
check-in to gauge where ea
student is at that day.

Include the Teen

the walking tour
orientation so tha
exactly where and

These are al

Feature

l illness
%
8

5
For the third year in a row, depression and suicide have been
ranked the top issues students want to see addressed at Sequoia,
based on the Youth Advisory Board Needs Assessment Survey.
Mental health is barely talked about due to stigma and
lack of awareness. The Raven Report has compiled important
statistics, personal stories and interviews with mental
If you are struggling with
health professionals to start the conversation.

mental health, call

South County Mental Health
Youth Team:
1-800-686-0101
Suicide Prevention:
of students rated suicide and depression
650-579-0350
the top issue to address at Sequoia
Ayuda en Espaol:
Image from Felipe Perucho for the Noun Project
Layout by Glenn Billman 1-800-303-7432

%
64

a students
edsuicide in
015

Medicated and mighty: treatment should be valued

without being reminded, and I really opened up to my

HE ONLY THING I REMEMBER about fifth grade is that I
therapist. Im proud to say that I havent missed a pill
was always scared. Not like your average 10-year-old might be scared; I was
in months, and Im completely honest when I go to
terrified. Whenever I was outside of school, I clung to my parents as if my
therapy each week.
life depended on it, and sometimes even that wasnt enough to keep
The reason it took me so long to start actually domy fear at bay. I began to have vivid, violent nightmares
ing these things is the huge stigma surrounding mental
that made me afraid to sleep at night. But behealth and the treatment it requires. This stigma is often
ing awake wasnt any better.
worse for teenagers because of the culture of judgment
I was diagnosed with general anxiety
that is perpetuated on high school campuses.
disorder when I was 11 years old. I was
When people get the flu, we dont look down on
given a prescription for Prozac, and
them for going to the doctor. Just like physical illness,
I began to attend therapy sessions
mental illness doesnt just go away if you ignore it; in
weekly.
fact, it usually gets much worse.
This was extremely difficult for
It is my belief that seeking help for mental illness is
me to cope with, because like most
one of the hardest things to do, and doing so should
people, I had a negative perception
be praised, not ridiculed. According to the Substance
of both therapy and medication
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in
and the people who needed them. I
2014 only 38 percent of youth who experienced a mathought that taking medicine made
jor depressive episode sought and received treatment for
me weak, like I needed some sort of
depression. (A depressive episode is defined as a period
crutch to handle day-to-day life. I
of two or more weeks when a person experiences a dethought that going to therapy made
pressed mood or loss of interest in daily activities in adme a freak. I used to lie to my pardition to at least four more symptoms of depression.)
ents about taking my medicine, and
This is because our society has not yet realized that
Id hide the pills in my bedroom so
anxiety
and depression along with countless other
they wouldnt find out I wasnt taking
mental illnessesare just like any physical illness that
them. Id tell my therapist I was happy
a person might suffer from: they
and doing great when I
need proper treatment and care to
really wasnt, hoping that As much as I wanted to not need
doing so would get me out medicine and therapy, ignoring get better. As much as I wanted to
the problem just made it worse. not need medicine and therapy, lyof going.
It wasnt until junior year, Choosing to confront my issues and ing to myself and ignoring the probwhen I was diagnosed taking care of myself was the best lem just made it worse. Choosing to
confront my issues and taking care
with depression, that decision Ive ever made.
of myself was the best decision Ive
I really started taking
ever made. I dont know where I would be right now
these things seriously. I knew that
ty are impossible to describe. This
if I hadnt started taking my treatment seriously, and I
I wasnt living life the way I wanted
esent what it can feel like and look
dont want other people to feel the need to ignore their
to, and I became endlessly frustrated
epresent the different stages of menillnesses because of the way society views them.
with myself for wasting so many years
urrounding the image represent the
when I could have been getting better.
ion and anxiety and the dark water I started taking my medication regularly
BY EMILY DUCKER
age reflects on how it feels internally.

How to help a friend

According to Lauren Karzen, a

therapist at the Teen Resource Center

their level of
1) Assess
stress or sadness.

The first thing is reflect

that back to your friend
and say, You seem really
down, is something going
on? How can I support
you?

but dont be a
2) Listen,
therapist.

Its not our job to fix it

[or] to hold the heaviness
of having of friend whos
depressed. Thats too
much, thats why therapists exist.

they are hurting

3) Ifthemselves
or plan to:

Let them know that

they need to tell someone: come into the TRC
and talk about it, any
school staff, theres a host
of crisis lines.

they refuse to seek

4) Ifhelp:

Dont feel bad if youre

the person who has to do
that [for them], because
we respect confidentiality,
its part of being a good
friend; we have to share.

Staff Editorial

th is often seen as a huge scary thing that is near impossible to fix. Addressing it doesnt necessarily require humongous projects or the complete
entire way our school is run. There are lots of little things that teachers, administrators and students can do to make a big difference. Here are
me of our suggestionswhich some teachers are already doingthat we feel should be baseline policies for all teachers to follow.

door at
is allows for
teraction with
e as a quick
ach

Resource Center in
of campus at freshman
at new students know
d what it is.

Ask why students are absent before making

them feel guilty about missing class. We understand
the importance of being present in class, but students
are sometimes not in a good state to learn.

Throughout the year, ask students to

evaluate and share their concerns with you to
ensure that your classroom environment promotes
learning and wellness. At the beginning of the
year, establish that youre there to help students
with issues in and out of school.
Have fliers in each classroom
with explicitly laid out steps students
can take to access help if theyre
having a hard time.

ll things that teachers can do individually, but they will work so much better if administrators enforce them as policies throughout the school so
that students can expect some consistency between all of their classes. For more easy solutions, visit www.ravenreport.org.