When you look up thtion of mental health on Google the first thing that pops onto your screen is, “a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.” A person’s mental health is important and should be a focus in everybody's daily lives. On Wednesday, September 20, 2017, Drew Bergman came into Greenwood High School as part of the Minding Your Mind organization to talk about mental health in today’s society and tell his story. I got the opportunity to speak with Drew and interview him. Drew first got his start with “Minding Your Mind” when he was in high school and made his first speech at a parent night when he was a senior. Then in 2014, Drew became active in the organization once more speaking at schools to students about their mental health. “Minding Your Mind” is important for students because “this is an issue that is greatly impacting our youth,” Drew says. Schools are the very center of student life from the time we are 5 to about 18, that is why these places must be safe spaces. Faculty needs to be there to support students, but also, Drew believes, that students have to remember that the faculty is made up of people with feelings and emotions. This connection of people to people can come from the “normalization of this conversation.” By making it a usual thing, students feel as if they are have a support system in their school. When asked about how the student to student snide and ignorant comments can be stopped Drew replied with, “(Students) have no understanding of the power of some of the things they say.” However there is hope, if we call each other out for saying something that is just plain wrong and telling them that their joke wasn't funny or amusing. The biggest thing that can be done though is to educate students about the impact that their words have on people. Education is a word that kept popping up in this interview, a lot. So I asked Drew when should mental health education begin? His answer seemed to come as soon as my words hit his ears. “Mental health education should start as soon as we learn about physical health education.” But what does that mean to a group of 5 year olds who don’t know what the word anxiety even is or who to say it? It’s a conversation about the sadness and nervousness they may feel and why they may feel like that. Drew makes a clear point that you do not all of a sudden have anxiety or depression, but it is like a cold. If you do not treat your cold when you have the opportunity, then you get the flu. The same goes for a person’s mental health. The toughest part about all of this? Drew emphasizes getting the parent involved “because the stigma that is prevalent with mental health isn’t just for adolescents, it’s not just for faculty, it’s also for parents.” To help with the parental struggles, kids should go home and have an open dialogue and tell their guardians about mental health. This does not just have to be a conversation about how a student is feeling, but could be about the stigma that surrounds this topic. The way people avoid, judge, or act towards mental health can stem from how Hollywood and society reacts to it. “Our society has made a mockery of mental health. The Charlie Sheens, the Lindsay Lohans, those are the kind of people that we thrive off of their downfall.” When these people then went to rehab, nobody was there to congratulate them for that success. Hollywoods next “animal”, 13 Reasons Why. The biggest thing that Drew pointed out about this show is it is “important that kids understand that this is not real life, that this is Hollywood, the scenes in this show are portrayed are not true, that these are not the standards of how mental health is treated, and there is hope.” If you want to watch this show, watch it with a guardian and then have a conversation about what happened, do not just binge watch it. With Hollywood feeding our minds, Drew believes that mental health is “systemic in the sense that this problem isn't just present in just one area of our society.” The ways to decrease this overtake is by educating students, parents, and the general public about mental health. Also Washington D.C. needs to start making changes that will allow people to afford care. “Mental health has a long way to go and that’s why the advocacy is so important.” I asked Drew if he had once piece of advice for a younger self or students struggling he remarked, “It sounds really cliche, but it gets better. This is how you are feeling right now… this is not forever”
“Suicide is 100% preventable,” if you need someone to talk to call 1-800-273-8255
For “13 Reasons Why” talking point go to to http://www.greenwoodsd.org/Page/162
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