- Welcome to "Teen Talk."

I'm Rhonda Herb.

Adolescence is an important time for young people to get a healthy start in life.

The number of children reporting poor mental health issues, however, is increasing.

Building strong bonds and connecting to our youth can help protect their mental health.

Early treatment can help prevent more severe, lasting problems as a child grows up.

To more effectively recognize the signs, Valley PBS has developed "Teen Talk."

In partnership with local mental health experts and professionals who are bringing the conversation directly to our school districts and our students.

"Teen Talk" gives our communities an opportunity to consider the importance of de-stigmatizing youth mental health issues, understanding the complexities of this topic, promoting dialogue with different schools, will help you engage your own student bodies and foster meaningful conversations.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] Thank you to our "Teen Talk" sponsors.

(gentle music) Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, Ascend Behavioral Health, BalanceKids, Learn4life high schools, CalViva Health, and Kepler Neighborhood School.

- Okay, so we're at Learn4life today.

A charter school which is in central Fresno, and we thank them very much for inviting us, including us today.

Our topic today is anxiety and depression.

I thought I'd start off with Dr. Christopherson and ask if he would give us a working definition, so we're all talking about the same thing.

And also follow up that with giving us some context about the issue, how large an issue is it?

Why should we be so concerned about anxiety and depression of our young people?

- So the easy questions came first, it sounds like.

Okay, so anxiety and depression are the two most common mental illnesses that plague society.

They're the common presentations for patients when they're going into therapy.

Depression, essentially, is an overwhelming sadness and dysphoria.

Often times it eliminates, or reduces people's motivations.

It just sort of sucks out our energy for life.

And anxiety is just that experience that we have when we're overwhelmed by fear and stress.

And it cripples our ability to maybe engage in daily tasks, or to go out in public, or to be as social as we might want to.

And these are both really wide-ranging problems.

In terms of how they effect youth, or impact our youth in our society, we're looking at probably a 12% rate in terms of those who struggle with depression or anxiety.

Between young childhood, around six years of age, up to 17 years of age.

And so, when we're talking about 12%, that mean for every 10 teenagers, one of them is struggling with depression, or anxiety.

And these numbers have continually gone up and escalated over the past decade.

We've seen really big increases in presentations for young people coming to therapy for depression, for anxiety; as well as, other mental health struggles that they're dealing with.

- Thank you.

So, you're with the school here.

- Mm-hm.

- Do you consider this a serious issue, and how does it manifest itself in the student body?

What are you aware of?

- Absolutely, I think for our students, and our staff members, I think we start noticing our students, social withdraw, withdrawing either having a difficult time concentrating in their work.

Not being able to make it to school on time, or at all.

And so, it's definitely a huge issue, and struggle for our staff members, because they also just want to know how to help our students so that they are successful academically.

- Great, thank you.

- And Coraline, anything you wanna add to the general topic before we start discussing specific stories?

- Yeah, I think it's just important, there's been a lot of focus on the individual.

And I think it's equally important to look at what's going on when a large part of the population is starting to experience these things.

And it's youth, as well as adults.

To look at maybe what's going on in the environment, as well.

So, that's something that I feel pretty strong about, looking at all the factors that contribute.

Okay.

- And we have four students with us today, and we thank all of you, because you volunteered to be here.

And this probably is adding to your anxiety, too.

But, we'd love to hear your stories, what you're willing to share with us, what you feel comfortable sharing, in terms of this topic.

Nick?

Would you mind starting us off?

- Yeah, well as for depression and anxiety, I'd like to gladly say I feel like I overcame it.

Back in 2019, when I originally came to Crescent View West, I did feel like I was very, I was in a low point in my life.

My father had just passed away.

And I was kind of throwing myself a pity party, per se.

I didn't really, didn't really feel the motivation to come to school.

And I pulled myself out of activities, just to not be around people, per se.

But, thankfully over the years, I've developed more of a grateful mindset that gotta be, instead of being a glass half-empty person, more of a glass half-full.

You gotta look at what's positive in life, and try to orient yourself towards that.

- Was the school environment here helpful for that?

- I honestly couldn't tell you.

Back then, I just stopped showing up.

I didn't even complete my two weeks of orientation.

It was just, it was a tough time with my father's passing, I've been pulled out of two other schools before I came here.

And once I came here, I was basically dead-set on dropping out.

I just stopped showing up.

- Okay, but you said that you're gonna be graduating soon?

- Oh yeah.

Well, now I'm graduating thankfully.

After a couple of years, I decided to re-enroll.

But it was just building myself personally.

I made myself somebody that I could be proud of.

Over time, I put in the hard work and dedication to make sure that I'm somebody that I'm proud to be.

- Congratulations.

And thank you for being here today to share your story with other people.

Ladies, any of you be willing to share your story like Nick did?

Sugar?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Well, before I came here, I went to a different school.

And that school was like for the students, people were like "Oh yeah, I could do this, "I could do that."

But me, like I had so much motivation to go and be, to make my mom happy.

And I ended up getting sick during the winter.

And because of that, it made me feel very low about myself.

I couldn't do things, because I was sick.

And I tried my best to go to school, but I didn't wanna get other people sick.

So when I went, when I finally got good, and I went back to school, my motivation for finishing school was so down.

I couldn't get anyone to help me with my work.

'Cause everyone was like "Oh, you should of been here."

But I'm just like, "I didn't wanna get you sick."

So, I tried to keep to myself.

And I got bullied by the teachers, because they told me "Oh, you can't do that.

"You can't do this and that."

So it, when you're already putting yourself down, you have more people putting you down.

So when they put me down, I felt like very down.

Like I was, "I'm a failure."

I wanted to drop out of school.

I didn't wanna be seen.

I just wanted to lock myself in my room.

And just forget about everybody.

I was just so bad.

I was so low at that point.

And before I came her, my mom was like, "Oh, you're not a failure."

Trying to keep my motivation up.

But I'm like, "You're just gonna say that "because you're my mom."

And then when she dropped me off here, I was like "Well, it's gonna be the same thing."

Like all the teachers are gonna do the same.

The students are going to bully me.

I'm just gonna be talked about, just the new kid.

Well, I came here, and it was the way opposite.

The school brought up my spirit.

I met Sariah, Sariah helped me be the person I am now.

Give me the confidence in who I was.

And she taught me to be yourself.

And the negative stuff around you, is always going to be overpowered with the positive stuff.

So if you think positive, your whole mindset will be so freely and happy.

And if you think negative, all that stuff will just wear you down.

It's just like, just yeah.

- [Rhonda] Thank you.

- Just having fun and stuff.

- That's a great story.

So, you're crediting both the school, itself.

But also having a very good friend here.

Sariah, anything you wanna add to that?

- Yes, my personally myself, I really struggled with anxiety and depression.

Even myself, I was diagnosed with it.

At a very young age, I was around 11, like 12ish, when I had my own problems.

And it came from personal problems.

Like my family, the way I was brought up, my environment.

Just my entire surroundings.

So the my side, I grew up around, 'cause I didn't grow up around positive, like-minded people to lead me in the right path.

I grew up with the same, my (indistinct).

I thought school isn't important.

You don't have to, you can just go in a different path, what the path was.

You could either go into gangs, drugs, get locked up, that was my whole entire family was like that.

So when I came to school, I really didn't try.

I was hanging around with the wrong people.

I really had a poor mindset.

I was hardly coming to school.

Myself, I was put out of school before I came here, out of two schools.

But when I finally came here, I could say the school really motivated me to become a better person.

'Cause they really check up on you.

The counselors here, like Miss Ali, for example.

She is a really important person to me.

Because she helped me personally with a lot of personal problems.

And the school doesn't leave you alone.

Like just give you a packet, and just like say you can just do it, and leave you to be.

They help you a lot.

But I had to come over my problems.

It came, it took a lot.

Like a lot of trials and tribulations to really become the person I am now.

I guess I overcame the depression.

Don't get me wrong, there are sad days.

But it's not how it was back in the day, like you know where, you really talk down on yourself.

And it's just so dark and gloomy.

It's nothing like that at all now.

I could say I'm happy with life, I'm blessed to be where I'm at.

And I have good friends like Sugar, and of course, other people here.

And I guess they like, I don't know, this school is a good school.

And people wanna come, and they have their problems, they could feel safe and welcomed here.

- Great, thank you.

Thanks for sharing.

Jay, we haven't heard from you yet.

And you're our one graduate.

What can you tell us about your experience?

- So I've been here since seventh grade.

Since middle school.

And I couldn't, I didn't go to other high schools, because I got kicked out.

And I got kicked out because lack of attendance.

So this was the only school that would accept me.

And even still being here, I still had lack of attendance.

I would not go.

And it's not because I didn't want to.

It's more so of my family.

So there would be fights like every morning.

And I wouldn't be able to get a ride to school.

And then that's when they, the school offered bus passes.

So that's when I started taking the bus.

And then, I had get into the routine of getting up early.

And then, just being up all night, because of the arguments, and my siblings getting kicked out and all that stuff, just living in the so, fearful environment.

I developed anxiety.

More so with my sleep.

So when I would go to sleep, I wouldn't feel safe.

And I still struggle with that to this day.

So I can't sleep on my own.

Because I feel like I have to wake up in two seconds, and save someone.

Or I have to wake up in two seconds, and make sure my sister is okay.

So even, I don't live at home no more.

And I still feel like I have to wake up and save people.

So with that, struggling with that, and lack of sleep, it definitely was a damper on my school work.

But with the class that I had, it was only four hours a day, Monday through Thursday.

And they sat with you, and they talked with me.

And they pulled me out of the classroom.

And then, instead of yelling at me, or sending me home, 'cause I was quiet, I didn't do anything.

They talked with me.

"Hey, how are you?"

Every day, and I didn't say a word in seventh grade.

I never spoke to them.

Eighth grade, I started to hang out more with friends and stuff.

And they still pulled me out and talked to me.

And throughout my whole high school years, too, they were still there, throughout everything.

And it was still the same cycle, until I moved out.

I had to be up in two seconds.

And I still, it took me a while to graduate.

So even though I graduated on time, I definitely could of graduated sooner.

So it's like, they were by my side through all of that.

- Thank you.

Thank you for sharing that.

So one of our goals today is to have a conversation that will help parents, schools, teachers, other professionals, better understand the topic, and how they can support students.

So having heard, this question is for the adults in the room now.

Having heard these four stories, what recommendations can you draw for both parents, but other professionals, too, who are saying "I know this is an issue.

"But, I don't know where to begin to help."

Maybe, we could start with you.

- I would say that, first, I would like to thank all you guys for being here.

And I think that you ladies, and Nick, are really brave for being able to come and share your stories, that's pretty awesome.

And I mostly, I'm grateful for your willingness to do that, because there's a lot of your peers out there who have similar struggles.

They're struggling with similar things.

Maybe having lost loved ones, or having really chaotic home life.

And it's good for them to be able to hear the stories of people who feel like they're in a successful trajectory.

That your life is going in a positive direction.

Because I'm sure that when you were going through those same things, you weren't feeling like your life is going in a positive direction.

And one of the things about depression and anxiety, is that it changes the way that we think, and the way that we process information.

And it causes our brain to focus very intently on all the negative things in our life.

So if some little bad thing happens, it blows that way up.

And if a bunch of positive things happen, it really causes us to not even sometimes be able to see, or notice those things.

And so, for you to be able to tell your peers that there are ways that you can kind of rise up, that you can overcome some of those struggles, is really good for them to hear.

- Thank you.

Coraline, I'm gonna ask you the same question.

- Yeah, I think that I would really challenge adults and professionals to be able to sit with youth and hear them.

I think a lot of us, with good intentions, wanna fix the problem.

And so, we jump to solutions.

We jump to actions.

And I think what the youth need is to be heard.

And to be heard is hard.

It's hard for some adults, and even professionals to hear the stories.

That the stories are incredibly important.

I think it also validates the experience, because the depression and anxiety doesn't come out of nowhere, there's a reason.

And you all talked about it.

You're all very insightful.

And you understand how this grew, where this rooted from.

And so, I would just encourage professionals and adults, a, to take up the challenge and hear difficult stories and sit with them.

And b, to understand there's a story behind depression and anxiety.

It doesn't just come up out of nothing.

And that these teens, adults, anyone who experiences this, there is a reason, there is a story.

They're not faulty, we're not injured.

There's a story, and it makes sense.

- Thank you.

I heard an awful lot of talk about how the school was supportive of students.

And how a change in environment was helpful for them.

Anything you wanna say about that?

- Absolutely.

And I think also to piggyback off of what Coraline was saying, how important it is to hear the voices of the students and the staff members, as well.

Because they also want to help.

And so earlier this year, we took part in a professional development opportunity.

And so, we wanted to hear from our staff members to say "Hey, what are some of the things "that you're interested in learning about?"

And a main topic was, how to help our students dealing with anxiety and depression.

And so, knowing that every school, every school district has different issues, we wanted to hear from our students.

And so, we sent out a voluntarily survey to our students.

We surveyed about 100 students, and asked them "What are your top stressors in life?"

The first one being school issues, family issues was the second, and then money issues was the top three.

And so, digging deeper into the school issues, students were wanting their teachers to know they were having trouble focusing on work.

So it wasn't that they were purposefully not coming to school, it's that they were having issues.

There was, something was getting in the way, that was not allowing them to really focus.

Be here, focus, get their work done.

- Okay, so we talked a lot about communication, the importance.

And we talked about the importance of listening.

I wanna ask the students here, if you could answer this question for me.

When we talk about people being good listeners, and you really want to believe people are listening and concerned, and caring about you, what does that look like?

What would you like to tell friends and adults around you to really engage and to make you feel supported and listened to?

What would that look like?

Can we start with you, Nick?

- Yeah.

It's more of a, it's a reciprocated response, per se.

To sit there and listen to the conversation is one thing.

But to be able to take key notes from it, and to shoot those back at the student, so that he understands that the main points of what it is that they were trying to say were listened to, and heard.

You know?

So it's just being able to reciprocate what it was the student said to you.

And be able to shine what I call, a different set of eyes on it.

Maybe give them a different perspective.

Because a lot of the times, students are looking at it from their own personal perspective, and it's nothing but negativity.

Especially if they are in a depressed state.

When you're able assign a new set of eyes on that, and maybe help them see that it's not as bad as it is.

Or, it could be worse, per se.

It helps them get a better footing in their feelings, so that they can hopefully start to progress in a better direction.

- Great, thank you.

Ladies, any of you willing to answer that question?

- Yeah, I could say when a student, or even your own child comes to talk to you, it's honestly just about really listening to them.

And not really putting their opinion into it, like how he said, to be reciprocated back.

Is more to say like, reassuring them, "It's okay, you will get through this."

Instead of being like, "Well, I went through this when I was your age.

"And it's not that serious, it's not that deep.

"Like, you should be able to overcome it," type of thing.

But to really listen and try to see where that person is coming from.

Because where they're coming from, you might see it totally differently.

But what they're feeling, you cannot feel how they feel.

So I feel like it's honestly just really, just listening, just communicating back when the right way.

Instead of just being so opinionated, to just really understand where that person is coming from.

Because if you understand where they're coming from, that child will feel more comfortable to go to you about it, because you hear them out, instead of judging them in way, or just dismissing them, and minimizing their feelings.

- I wanna chat about resources that are available to people.

But before we go to that conversation, Nick, when you started this out, you said something very interesting.

You talked about the glass half-full, and the glass... Not half-full.

- Yeah.

- Okay?

That whole concept of being able to make that mental adjustment in your life.

To okay, I used to have a very negative attitude.

And everything didn't necessarily improve, but I was able to make changes to how I viewed things.

Can you say more about that?

And what tools you got to help you through that process of getting more to that half-full, rather than half-empty?

- Well, it all starts with little steps.

You're not gonna one day wake up and decide you're gonna be a happier person.

It's a lot of like self-hypnosis, per se.

You gotta wake up and start really believing that today is gonna be a good day.

You gotta wake up on the right side of the bed every single day.

And just start your day off on the right path.

And to me, it's a lot mind over matter, over anything.

I like to think that no matter what happens to me, I'll try to keep the positive mindset that I have, because at the same time, no matter what it is that happens to me, if I take a negative mindset towards it, it's not gonna benefit me at all.

To have a negative mindset in a negative situation, is only gonna make it much worse.

So for me, it's the closest thing to making it better, is to start off and having the correct mindset.

- Jay, you last of all.

Anything you wanna say to other teens about how to reach out, and support, and be there for each other, and help people through these difficult times?

- I would say just from my experience, is just write.

- Writing was useful for you?

- Yeah.

- That kind of therapy?

- Just write it.

And that way, if you wanna share it to anyone, just hand it.

Don't look at them, don't do anything, just hand it.

Because then the other person is able to read it, and they're able to fill their emotions.

So, they're more able to comprehend where it's coming from.

'Cause when you read, you understand it in a different way.

And so I just, just write it.

That's all I have to say.

- Thank you.

That's great, that's great.

I wanna turn to everybody now and ask for some suggestions for tips and resources.

We shared a lot of things, but perhaps there's some ideas we haven't shared yet.

We wanna make sure both teens and the adults who work with them are aware of.

Can we start with you?

- Earlier in our conversation, we were talking about listening.

One of the things I was thinking about is in the years that I have been training mental health professionals, I've been surprised at one of the most difficult skills to develop has been to really intently listen to somebody.

And not think about what you're going to say.

Not think about thinking of what they're talking about, but to really sort of listen with that kind of intensity, is a very demanding and difficult skill to develop.

And all parents and teachers, and counselors, that's a skill that they have to learn to develop to hear, to be able to listen to somebody who's struggling.

And I think it's awesome that all of you are able to tell your story, so that other people can listen, and can hear you guys.

And can hear what it's like for y'all.

- Yeah, thank you.

I think it's fascinating that schools spend a lot of time teaching us all how to read, and how to write, and how to speak publicly, but very few of us get any lessons on how to listen, right?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

And we all should be doing a lot more of it.

Marie, I'm curious if parents ever reach out to the school, aware that there are issues, but not sure how to handle them, and what support you're able to give parents?

- Yes, absolutely.

So it doesn't happen often.

But I would like to encourage our parents to reach out to our local, to their local schools, to see what connections they have.

So recently we had a few parents reach out and said, "I don't know how to help my student, my son, or daughter, "who is dealing with depression."

And so, we were able to research in the community.

We partnered with our local county office of education, who was already providing parent webinars.

They were available online, and in-person.

And in both English and in Spanish.

And so, these webinars were geared towards parents, and helping them understand.

Understand the signs and symptoms of depression, and how to help their student.

And I believe they had a panel of a few students who were also able to kind of share their story, and provide their perspective.

So I would say just reach out to see what connections are available.

I know NOMI, is also a very well-known organization that does provide parent workshops, or webinars to better help support our parents in that sense.

- Coraline, anything else you wanna add?

- Yeah, I think I would just add for anyone listening, talking is healing.

And I'm sure the doctor could go through all the neuro development about talking.

But to get the buy-in of parents to understand that providing a solution isn't always the most helpful thing.

But actually talking brings you into a part of your brain where you already have more control over your feelings.

So, if you're writing or talking, you're already moving towards healing and recovery.

And I think parents, if they could really understand the science behind that, might be more motivated to just listen, and let someone talk.

- I wanna thank our professionals for being here with us today, and sharing your perspective, taking the time to do it.

Mostly, we all wanna thank the students, don't we?

Because it was brave, and it was anxiety-producing.

But I heard a lot of great tips from all of you.

And I wanna thank you for, let you know that we appreciate your journeys and what you've been through.

But, thank you for being on the other side, now being able to help other people, too.

Okay?

And thank you for watching.

I hope you enjoyed "Teen Talk."

And we look forward to sharing more information with you.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] For more information and resources, visit our website at ValleyPBS.org/TeenTalk (gentle music) Thank you to our "Teen Talk" sponsors.

(gentle music) Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, Ascend Behavioral Health, BalanceKids, Learn4life high schools, CalViva Health, And Kepler Neighborhood School.