By Ken Sain
Managing Editor
Riana Alexander is aware of what battling mental health is like.
“I’ve struggled with anxiety my entire life,” the Chandler High senior stated. “But in 2021, I used to be recognized with despair, and it simply saved getting worse. I used to be lacking faculty quite a bit. I used to be not consuming, I used to be withdrawing from pals, I used to be simply not myself. It bought to the purpose the place I did withdraw from faculty. I can go on and on about how exhausting it was.
“I think it’s important to remember that struggling with depression and struggling with suicide isn’t like … crying all the time and wanting to end your life. It’s like ongoing constantly,” she continued. “When I used to be struggling, I used to be nonetheless going out every single day and speaking to pals and smiling and laughing.
“But I was still struggling, there’s a ton of physical symptoms that come along with it. Like I was always sick all the time. And I think it’s something I would not wish on anybody.”
Riana is co-founder of Arizona Students for Mental Health, which formally turned a nonprofit on Aug. 4. The group fashioned on the finish of the final faculty yr after three Chandler Unified college students died by suicide and attended a governing board assembly to demand more help for struggling college students.
They settled on sporting purple tie-dyed shirts to provide their group a visual id.
“It was like a cheap way for all of us to be in unison,” defined Elle Mramor, the group’s different co-founder and an eighth grader at Santan Junior High.
The teenagers stated one method to help enhance college students’ mental health is for adults to have interaction youngsters in severe conversations about mental health and suicide – which they are saying aren’t occurring now.
“When it’s talked about now, people, honestly, they joke about it because they’ve just never heard (about) it like until middle school. A lot of kids my age have not been educated about it at all,” Elle stated.
“And I know it’s really hard topic to swallow, but you can’t just leave them without that knowledge and then suddenly in the seventh grade throw it all in their face,” she stated.
Riana agreed.
“When I started to talk to people about it and open up about it, it just makes everything so much easier,” Riana stated. “And I think that’s where the district needs to start as well. Because I know it’s hard for people to talk about it, and I know it’s a difficult subject, and people don’t want to talk about it. But the reason that people don’t ask for help is because no one talks about it.”
Another member of their group stated he knew the Perry High pupil who died final May. The different two suicides final May concerned Hamilton and Chandler highschool college students.
“We weren’t the closest of friends,” stated Jayden Riecken, a sophomore at Basha High School, including that they attended the identical center faculty and “he sat at my lunch table for a while and we had some classes together.”
Jayden believes some good has come from their look earlier than the CUSD Governing Board.
“After the meeting, we had emails back and forth between some of the board members and stuff,” he stated. “Not all of them were productive. Some of them were just, ‘hey, thanks for coming out and speaking,’ but I feel like we were raising awareness.”
A fourth member of the group is Lucy Wegener, an eighth grader at Santan Junior High. She stated academics and college workers must have more coaching.
“Which would help teachers be able to recognize more signs, and even students, and maybe they would get more comfortable with it,” she stated.
“So the students around them feel more supported when it comes to suicide and know that you’re not as alone as you think you are.”
Chandler educator and mental health advocate Katey McPherson stated the trouble can’t be left to the college district alone and has been urging metropolis officers to take a more proactive function in addressing teenagers’ mental health.
“We have lost dozens of students to these feelings in addition to those who have also overdosed on substances,” she instructed metropolis administration and council members in a latest e mail.
“When we as parents, cities, municipalities, and school districts come together with law enforcement and other non-profit entities there is not a diffusion of resources, there is an amplification,” she stated. “Several local municipalities have begun this work and have fantastic programs in place because of it.”
She famous that in 2017, In the summer time of 2017, the Town of Queen Creek, Queen Creek Unified School District and Higley Unified misplaced 4 college students in 90 days to suicide and that “the response from the Town and college district was to dig in and to seek out out why.
“The survey data was used to align programs, services, and personnel to assist students on a daily basis,” she stated, noting that Gilbert municipal and college officers additionally labored collectively below the management of former Mayor Jenn Daniels, although the pandemic disrupted plans.
McPherson additionally urged metropolis officers to: have warning indicators of suicide included in utility payments throughout September, which is Suicide Prevention Month; arrange webinars relating to youth mental health hosted by the vice mayor; dedicate metropolis funding “to youth prevention, not just crisis;” and sponsor or help outreach occasions hosted by native non-profits.
In only a few months the teenagers’ group has attracted appreciable information protection and filed the mandatory paperwork to be acknowledged as a nonprofit.
The teenagers would like to see their group broaden to different elements of the Valley and state.
But they are saying they’re not glad with CUSD’s response and need to see more outcomes by the tip of the yr.
“I think we’ve gotten ourselves out there, but we haven’t made a huge impact,” Elle stated. “We’ve gotten individuals on our facet, however now we simply must take the individuals we bought and like, inform them what we want, like what we would like.
“There’s not that much time we can waste because it’s happening, it’s gonna be ongoing. Just because there’s a new year doesn’t mean it’s going to stop.”
