Re Children’s mental health front, centre in Muskoka, Huntsville Forester article, May 9
How wonderful to see that across Muskoka both school boards are taking part in the Ministry of Education’s mental health pilot project as part of the larger Provincial Children and Youth Mental Health Initiative that started in 2011.
It would appear that both the province and the school boards are finally understanding that old saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover” when it comes to understanding an individual’s state of mental health.
If we break a leg, we go to the hospital and get a cast put on. If we are sick, we go to the doctor and get medication. If we can’t lose weight, we go to the gym, see a trainer and get on a fitness program. If something feels wrong inside our head, inside our heart, and our emotions; why do we still feel we must not talk about it or go see anyone about it.
While our society has indeed progressed in many ways we still living in the “Suck it up, life isn’t easy, if it can’t be seen it must not exist. Be strong and take charge of your own emotions” days.
I play hockey in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League where former NHL hockey player and assistant coach of the NHL Ottawa Senators Luke Richardson is the coach of the Ottawa Lady Senators and his oldest daughter Morgan plays on the team.
In November of 2010 our league and our team were rocked by the tragic news that Morgan’s 14-year-old sister, Daron, had committed suicide. How could this happen? What possibly could have gone wrong? Everything in her life was good, she wanted for nothing. As the Richardsons decided to be very public in sharing the circumstances of Daron’s death we followed closely and what continued to come out was that they didn’t see it coming, everything seemed fine.
This is the scary part of mental illness. In many cases people feel compelled to keep it inside and just deal with it internally. When symptoms do come out they are often misinterpreted or written off as just a bad hair day, a bad mood, a phase. The question has to be asked, why is this, why does there still seem to be a resistance in so much of society that mental illness is no different than any other physical or internal illness? Why does there still seem to be a cloud hanging over admitting one is struggling with mental health and getting it diagnosed and treated?
Clara Hughes, a six-time Olympic medalist is one of the many high profile individuals doing her part to help change this stigma by teaming up with Bell Canada as part of their “Lets Talk” mental health initiative in which they have invested $50 million over five years to help reduce the stigma attached to mental health issues and support new research.
If someone like Clara who has been to the top of the world struggled with depression for two years and is willing to come out publicly and talk about it, hopefully that will make it easier for those of us living everyday lives to be honest with what is going on inside us and willing to do something about it.
I am a 17-year-old girl surrounded by great family and friends. I have had a comfortable life with no major crisis to deal with. I have enjoyed some athletic success especially in hockey. I have academic and athletic opportunities that await me next year. From the outside looking in everything looks picture perfect yet I have found myself at times in dark, lonely places, not sure how to deal with it and certainly not sure why. I have been fortunate to have family, friends and several teachers at the school I attend in Kitchener pick up on the signs that something was up during my dark moments and provide me with, and direct me to, the support and assistance I needed.
I am not alone in these feelings and know many other teens struggling and dealing with the same thing. Just like not all physical illnesses results in death, not all mental illnesses are as severe as others and always lead to suicide. However, in our own backyard here in Muskoka we have dealt with the tragedy of teens attempting and committing suicide.
This past hockey season several junior A Otters had to go home on two separate occasions where their teenage best friend committed suicide, again for no apparent or visible reason.
I think Bell and Clara Hughes have said it best. Let’s Talk! Kudos to the Muskoka school boards, the other 13 participating school boards and the province of Ontario for bringing this to the forefront among youth and teens and taking a proactive approach to addressing these issues and more importantly making us kids feel it is ok to address them.
Sincerely,
Natalie Robinson
Huntsville