'It’s literally life-saving.' Kansas teens support each other through mental health struggles

Chad Harrell was a preferred athlete, good scholar, and rising senior at Blue Valley North High in the summertime of 2017. One night he was late and his mother and father grounded him. His mom, Sylvia Harrell, checked on him earlier than she went to mattress and located him lifeless in his room. He had taken his personal life.

“Had I had any inkling, this wouldn’t have happened,” Sylvia Harrell mentioned in 2018. “I’d have been exterior his room. I’d have fired up my radar to search for it. We had been blinded as a result of Chad Harrell wasn’t making dangerous choices. The solely dangerous determination he made is appalling.”

Harrell was one in all 5 suicides throughout the 2017-2018 faculty yr in Johnson County’s high-performing Blue Valley School District. Across Johnson County, teenage deaths almost doubled in 2018 after a normal upward pattern in recent times.

In response, six districts launched a brand new suicide prevention program known as Zero Reasons Why. Now in its fourth yr, this system relies on three pillars: speaking extra brazenly about mental health and suicide; Building non-judgmental neighborhood support and engagement for mental health; and schooling about suicide prevention constantly and earlier.

Misha Raichura alerted an adult when one of her friends opened up about dying by suicide. She later learned that her friend felt betrayed. Zero Reasons Why seeks to help teenagers navigate the complicated implications of mental health issues. — Misha Raichura alerted an grownup when one in all her associates opened up about dying by suicide. She later discovered that her buddy felt betrayed. Zero Reasons Why seeks to assist youngsters navigate the difficult implications of mental health points.

Students discover methods to unfold the message

Misha Raichura, now 18, began Zero Reasons Why at Blue Valley West just a few years in the past. Now a senior, she dedicates extra time to the marketing campaign because the chief of a “teen council,” one in all dozens of peer-to-peer hangout periods the place highschool college students share what is going on on of their lives. She speaks at occasions about teenage mental health, equivalent to a latest Bollywood fundraiser by Seva Dance, a non-profit group that teaches Indian cultural dances.

Zero Reasons Why sponsors its personal occasions: “Yellow-Outs,” the place college students put on yellow signature t-shirts with the marketing campaign brand; Information and wristband tables in school soccer, basketball and observe and subject occasions; and banner captions for college students to write down messages about their mental health experiences.

Raichura is especially serious about reaching children in center faculty, which is when she observed her associates had been stressing out about grades, competitors, and peer strain.

“I had a few friends in seventh and eighth grade who didn’t come to school for the day at all excited,” she mentioned. “You would ask them, ‘Are you going to this or that exercise?’ they usually’re identical to, ‘Uh, I do not know.’ They have little interest in something that is happening.”

She mentioned this system helped her decipher messages that counsel a baby is in danger. “Normally they wouldn’t use the words ‘depressed’ or ‘take my life,'” Raichura mentioned. “It can be extra like, ‘I’m so completed with this, I’m simply going to finish all of it.’ Or ‘Thank you for being a great buddy whereas it lasted.’”

But when Raichura confided in a detailed buddy that she is likely to be considering self-harm, she turned to an grownup. Then she realized that the talks do not at all times go as anticipated.

“A couple of times this person felt betrayed and didn’t want to talk to me anymore about how they were feeling, which left them completely alone,” Raichura mentioned. “In the back of my mind I felt like I had done something wrong by telling an adult.”

What she discovered was learn how to let adults know she’s fearful with out sharing all the small print of texts or conversations, messages that somebody would possibly suppose they’ve shared confidentially.

Ava Shropshire (right) has found that the Zero Reason's Why campaign connected her with other teenagers during a difficult transition to a new city. Her brother Joshua also participates in the program. — Ava Shropshire (proper) has discovered that the Zero Reason’s Why marketing campaign linked her with other youngsters throughout a tough transition to a brand new metropolis. Her brother Joshua additionally participates in this system.

Ava Shropshire, 17, not too long ago relocated to Overland Park from Ohio. She is homeschooled and not too long ago joined a youth council. She mentioned the tales shared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter gave her a way of neighborhood and luxury whereas adjusting to a brand new place.

“I’m not the only one going through this. I’m not weird or crazy,” she mentioned. “Even just scrolling through my social media, I can see a story and it’s like, ‘Oh I needed that today,’ and it’s a reminder that I’m not alone.”

Nationally, suicide continues to be the third main reason behind dying amongst folks aged 10 to 24. It is the second main reason behind dying in kids between the ages of 10 and 14.

If you or somebody you understand is in disaster, name the Suicide Prevention Line at 9-8-8 or textual content or chat on-line at 988lifeline.org/chat.

Students like Shropshire mentioned a part of what they want is extra skilled professionals and assets to coach adults.

“We made some videos specifically for adults,” Shropshire mentioned. “And I went to the Statehouse and spoke to some adults in energy. Now we have to see adults get up as a result of it may be tough for teens to advocate for extra neighborhood assets. Zero Reasons Why can not cowl all areas of want.”

Shropshire, who’s black, mentioned she can be enthusiastic about serving folks from totally different cultures, researching the impression of neurodiversity on mental health and studying about how totally different households and cultures method mental health and parenting.

Rahul Chavali, 17, was afraid to talk to his mother and father when his glorious grades slipped. A social sort, upbeat and agile, who enjoys going to the fitness center and taking part in the drums with associates, he has been feeling unmotivated and distracted throughout the COVID-19 lockdown.

But listening to that his friends shared related fears gave him the boldness to share his experiences along with his mom and father, who got here from a small village in India.

“So in her mind, it was always about working in a better place,” Chavali mentioned. “The shift is like, there are nonetheless points that you could be encounter and there are nonetheless methods you may assist your personal mental health. You simply have to have the ability to discuss it.”

Expansion to other areas

Statistics on suicide prevention are tough to gather: if one thing would not occur, there are not any numbers to replicate it. But Johnson County officers say the variety of deaths from suicide amongst folks underneath the age of 19 has declined: 9 in 2018 and 2019; 6 in 2020; 7 in 2021; 4 to September this yr.

Perhaps extra meaningfully, 911 calls are up 125%. That means an increasing number of persons are searching for assist.

Another indicator of success is the growth of Zero Reason’s Why into Sedgwick County and a four-county space of central Kansas and into Jackson County, Missouri.

At Hoisington High in Barton County, Kansas, which has a inhabitants of about 2,500, Kynlie advised Crowdie earlier than getting concerned final yr that she would by no means disclose her despair, figuring out how rapidly gossip unfold within the small neighborhood.

“I knew I looked like I had it all together and everyone else looked like they had it all together,” she mentioned. “I couldn’t tell which one of us faked it.”

However, she mentioned Zero Reason’s Why storytelling marketing campaign, social media presence and schooling efforts are making it safer for everybody to open up.

“We talk about the successes we’ve had,” she mentioned. “But we have received some criticism. People who tell us it’s not important for us to discuss it. That we should go ahead and find out something else. It is not a waste of time in any way, shape or form. It’s literally life saving.”