Unsatisfied with mental health education, Asheville students push to create their own – Citizen Times

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Victor Ramirez, 17, a senior at SILSA, and Iris Barkett, 16, an Asheville High junior, are active in the Peer-2-Peer Depression Awareness program and are pushing the school to provide more access to mental health services and professionals but feel they are not being heard by school officials. Photographed Dec. 12, 2019. (Photo: ANGELI WRIGHT/ASHEVILLE CITIZEN TIMES)

Depression hit Lily Dickinson in the 10th grade.

As dual coursework at School of Inquiry and Life Sciences at Asheville and Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College mounted, her afterschool roles intensified. A friend, experiencing suicidal ideation, needed help. The toll of helping weighed on Dickinsons psyche. She felt drained.

I didnt really know what was happening with me because they were these new feelings that I was very unsure about, Dickinson said. She says teachers and counselors cared deeply, but no one offered mental health advice.

Both in my school and outside of my school, I didnt really know who to go to, Dickinson said. There wasnt any direct support or really any clear path. That just felt off.

Dickinson stumbled upon a solution in psychology class. Through research, she discovered the University of Michigans Depression Center and its Peer-to-Peer program. Dickinson read how through the program, students discussed depression and anxiety without stigma, learning effective coping techniques when life begins to overwhelm.

For Dickinson, mired in depression, a student-led program felt like hope. She wanted one in Asheville.

I realized that the moment of I don't know what to do shouldn't exist for us, she said.

After battling depression, Lily Dickinson, 18, founded the Peer-2-Peer Depression Awareness program for AHS and SILSA students.(Photo: Courtesy of Lily Dickinson)

For the next three years, Dickinson joined classmates to build their own mental health awareness program in Asheville High and SILSA. They formed the Peer-2-Peer Depression Awareness program, around 30-students strong at its peak. The group created pamphlets on mental health for classmates. They welcomed a mindfulness therapist to cover ways of handling intense stress.

Yet, students desired more. They desired a comprehensive mental health program, not just a school club.

Now a freshman at UNC Chapel Hill, Dickinson continues towards her goal: a district-sanctioned, multisession program on mental health education in Asheville, akin to the sex education curricula taught at most public high schools.

Students just are missing this whole block of education, Dickinson said. There's math, but there's not mental health. That doesn't compute in my head."

To achieve this program, Dickinson asks for more assistance from adults in Asheville City Schools.

"There's not any urgency, Dickinson said. I think people aren't realizing how important it is, especially now with everything that's happening in the world and that's changing. This next level of education is incredibly important for the wellbeing of the next generation."

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According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five American adults experience mental illness every year. The rate dips only slightly, to 17%, for children.

To many who work in schools, youth mental health has become a swelling concern.

"Anxiety management is number one, and depression is a very close second, said Annie Mast, K-4 Behavior Support Counselor at Evergreen Community Charter School. Both are increasing, rapidly and scarily increasing.

The Peer-2-Peer Depression Awareness program works to bring mental health awareness to Asheville students.(Photo: Courtesy of Lily Dickinson)

Kriya Lendzion, Evergreens 5-8 Counselor, sees depression and anxiety symptoms manifest as students hit late middle school and into high school.

"Everything is amped up by social media, said Lendzion, who counseled Dickinson in middle school. They're already self-conscious and that's part of their anxiety. They already feel like everybody's watching them and knows what's going on. And it is now 100 times worse. There's no separation from it.

The byproducts of depression and anxiety can be tragic. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 15-24 according to the CDC (compared to the tenth leading cause of death for all Americans). From 2007 to 2017, the suicide rate among Americans ages 10-24 jumped 56%.

We've seen a shift in the last decade in terms of this generation really getting behind the idea that other students need to be educated about this, said Stephanie Salazar, outreach and education program manager for the University of Michigan Depression Center.

The American School Counselor Association recommends astudent-to-school counselor ratio of 250-to-1. Few states met this mark. North Carolinas ratio was 375 students for every school counselor in 2015-16. Counseling duties extend to arranging course schedules and imparting career advice, which pulls counselors away from focusing on mental well-being.

Students say their programscan fill gaps in mental health education.

I think the students are in a place where they can notice when their peers might be struggling, Salazar said. "If I came in and did a presentation, it would not be nearly as impactful then if they hear from their peers."

In Asheville City Schools, students of the Peer-2-Peer Depression Awareness program continue to push for mental health initiatives. Some say theyve found their school administrations response frustrating.

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This year, Iris Barkett hoped to redefine homeroom.

As co-president of the Peer-2-Peer program, Barkett, a junior at Asheville High, asked mental health leaders from the community to speak during students daily 23-minute homeroom periods. They would start with four or five sessions and go from there.

Its all Ive thought about this year, Barkett said of her mental health homeroom proposal.

Iris Barkett, 16, an Asheville High junior, is the co-president of the Peer-2-Peer Depression Awareness program. Photographed Dec. 12, 2019. (Photo: ANGELI WRIGHT/ASHEVILLE CITIZEN TIMES)

Barkettsays community leaders A-B Tech professors, an LGBTQ youth group leader,and a practicing therapist agreed to the homeroom sessions. Her school, however, did not.

Shane Cassida, executive director for student support servicesat Asheville City Schools, said the districtprovides ample multi-tiered resources for the expanding number of students experiencing mental health issues, including counselors and mental health TAs.

He said a task force of high school teachers and staff help determine which mental health education programs to implement. Cassida also said the district is rolling out a student ambassador process that will address mental health.

As to why certain programs may be favored over others, Cassida discussed the need for sensitive approaches to sensitive topics.

These are very personal matters, very student-sensitive matters, so the task force feels those are conversations better handled in a smaller, more intimate setting, Cassida said. I think that allows for student feedback. Sometimes in large settings, that's a very difficult thing to do in the moment.

Most of my peers and friends are dealing with mental illness and don't get treatment because they don't know the signs to look for, Iris Barkett (in foreground) said.(Photo: Courtesy of Lily Dickinson)

The district also keeps the student-to-counselor ratios at both high schools around 300-to-1, below the national average.

Still, Barkett says Asheville students face limitations to mental health access and awareness. Barkett the junior class president was unaware of the student ambassador program. Andcounselors, she says, seem to be stretched thin with other duties, and staff turnover is common.

We don't have the opportunity to work and gain trust with the new counselors because they're so busy, Barkett said. They don't really have enough time to meet with us and talk about our fears or anything that's stressing us out."

This school year, both SILSA and AHS have new counselors. Across the Student Services department, three of six social workers left since last year. ACS placed Eric Howard, the former executive director of student support services,on administrative leave Aug. 7, less than two weeks before classes began. Howard resigned Oct. 1.

The position will turn over once more after Cassida becomesan assistant superintendent in the district on Jan 1.

Asheville City Schools spokeswoman Ashley-Michelle Thublin said in a Nov. 13 email to The Citizen Times, Student Services can be a highly stressful position, and while there has been turnover, we have currently filled all but one position in the Student Services Department. Our new, highly-qualified staff are quickly getting up to speed and doing a tremendous job in meeting the needs of our students.

Students just are missing this whole block of education."

Home from college over winter break, Dickinson plans to sit down with current Peer-2-Peermembers to map out future initiatives. Apsychology major, Dickinson plans tofocusonmental health in young adults and adolescence. She hopes future collegiate projects caninclude her former high school.

Comprehensive mental health curriculum remains the dream, but the young mental health advocatesfocus now on smaller goals: disseminating informational flyers and facilitating one-off sessions for students coping with depression and anxiety. With members annually graduating, Peer-2-Peer must rebuild its membership.

And they will continue to seek district support.

Most of my peers and friends are dealing with mental illness and don't get treatment because they don't know the signs to look for, Barkett said.

I just want the information to be reached to everyone without any restrictions.

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Unsatisfied with mental health education, Asheville students push to create their own - Citizen Times