‘It’s OK to not be OK’ | Youth Council hosts mental health panel talk to address local needs
Local teens received a message to live by Tuesday: It is OK not to be OK and there are resources to help if you find yourself there.
What is not OK is to do nothing, according to the common thread woven throughout a Youth Council Mental Health panel discussion held in the Cape Coral City Council Chambers.
“The No. 1 barrier is the stigma; the second piece is access,” said Collaboratory President and CEO Dr. Dawn Belamarich, one of the panelists. “You want to build an authentic relationship when having a tough time. We forget we are human beings and sometimes we talk to people very robotic.”
Cape Coral Youth Council Advisor Tom Hayden said generations have masked mental health issues, but the generation of today can start breaking down the word “stigma” and help address the causes.
“This is the group. They can take you to the next level because they care. They have the strength — they are willing to step up,” he said of member of the Youth Council who spoke up about their experiences. “Events like this are important. I hope to God you continue to pay attention to this age group.”
A panel discussion was held between the city’s Youth Council and five panelists in Cape Coral City Council chambers.
“We wanted to have this meeting because mental health is a big issue for us,” Youth Council Chair Lexie Skorzak, an Oasis High School senior, said.
The discussion stemmed from a presentation given during a joint meeting between city Council and its appointed youth council regarding their mental health project.
Skorzak said city Councilmember Jennifer Nelson-Lastra was the only one able to respond and give input.
The mental health project included a survey for 924 Oasis High School students which garnered 214 responses. The survey provided some insight into the struggles teens are having between the heavy workloads and expectations and the balance of everyday life.
Oasis High School Senior and Youth Council member Claire Johnson said some who answered their survey mentioned hesitation in asking for help for fear of judgment or not taken seriously. Many expressed a strong desire for more awareness, open conversation and a better support system.
Johnson said they are working with Safe Promise Clubs at additional high schools in Cape Coral and North Fort Myers with a combination of Youth Council and club questions.
“We will present this full result at a future town hall meeting,” she said.
There were half a dozen questions asked by multiple Youth Council members to the panel, all focused around mental health.
Barriers to reaching out
The first question, which kicked off the two-hour discussion, stemmed around why youths struggle to reach out for help. Reasons cited included perceived stigma, access, time, culture and how adults respond to youth.
The Center for Progress and Excellence CEO Heather Cross said there must be an understanding on the importance of speaking out and talking about it without judgment from peers.
“I think it is about awareness and explaining the importance of talking about it. We actually have a logo on our shirts that says, ‘Let’s talk about it,'” she said, adding that they can “reduce that stigma by asking people how they are doing.”
Another struggle is the lack of time.
Lee Health Behavioral Health System Director Nicole Liberto said she has spoken with a number of youths throughout the years who have expressed that they do not feel they have time.
“Time has been an incredible barrier,” she said, adding that many feel overwhelmed. “They don’t want to burden others with getting one more thing.”
Lee County School District Physical and Mental Health Services Director Lori Brooks said another is how students are perceived and responded to when a discussion is had. She said part of their comprehensive mental services training teaches staff how to appropriately respond to youths who are reaching out.
Training across the state requires an understanding of how to respond to youths with respect, active listening and listening non-judgmentally while providing reassurance and connection, Brooks said,.
“Not all need therapeutic services, but need support of some type,” she said.
The last panelist, Cape Coral Police Department Officer Shawn Frazin, said culture also plays into the struggle.
“There are a lot of religions, ethnicities — mental health taboo,” he said, adding that there is a fear of not being understood, believed or told.
The need for more resources
Another question asked about the possibility of retaining more mental health specialists in the schools, or guidance counselors supporting students.
Brooks said the district has 57 licensed mental health professionals as a result of the state of Florida developing the Mental Health Assistance Allocation.
“Every school has a licensed mental health professional. We split them up between different days and different schools,” she said.
In addition, Brooks said the district has counselors, social workers, and physiologists making up 350 mental health professionals. She said they could always use more.
“We continue to lean into staffing more and more,” Brooks said.
There was a question about the lack of funding from Hayden as there are 350 staff members for 100,000 students.
“How do we get them to listen,” he asked about state and federal funding.
Brooks said community partners are struggling with underfunding, which is problematic across the state. She said they have to link arms together and talk regularly about the same type of legislative priorities.
The continuation plan is to call legislators to express their concerns using data, Brooks said,
“There is a power in private citizens. We are parents, grandparents, siblings and friends,” she said, adding that everyone has to exercise their voices together about the need surrounding mental health.
Belamarich completely agreed with collaboration and partnership to get to a shared goal.
“Another piece is we need to meet youth where they are at. Maybe they need to have someone to text on the fly,” she said, adding that when Florida is ranked 48th and 49th out of 50 for mental health and that is not working.
The School District of Lee County is in the process of revamping its Wellness Wednesday — video-based instruction, which originally was a response to required instruction in 2019
“We are ready for interaction,” Brooks said, adding that SAVE Promise Club students are working with the district to address resiliency instruction. SAVE is an acronym for Students Against Violence Everywhere, a youth leadership initiative that started with Sandy Hook Promise.
Crisis mode intervention
Without help — offering resources — some mental health instances wind up with a Baker Act.
The Baker Act is a state statute that can used for an involuntary commitment when an individual cannot keep themselves safe from themselves. If the student is in imminent danger, a school resource officer can intervene.
“The clinical assessment is the first and best assessment, rather than having law enforcement access as a risk mitigation strategy,” Brooks said. “Now we are required to ensure that we call the parent and mobile crisis before we do anything else.”
Frazin said when it happens to you, or your own family, all the stuff goes out the window and panic sets in. He said law enforcement needs to be used when the individual is endangered or at severe risk, or harm.
“Everything else can be handled through counseling and medical field where it should be,” Frazin said.
He said every officer goes through a 40-hour training about the resources provided. Frazin said when he first started with law enforcement he had five to seven Baker Acts a week, which is now one or two every other week.
“People Baker Acting over and over again have dropped off,” Frazin said, adding that resources are coming to them at their own pace now through CEP or Centre for Effective Practice a resource for health care providers.
Cross said they ramped up their staffing in 2019, which has resulted in very seldom turning down an opportunity to go to a school. She said they are primarily focused on the kids of Lee County.
The Center for Progress and Excellence has a diversion act number between 92-94%, meaning students are not being hospitalized for a short period of time and sent back home.
“We help the family navigate the system,” Cross said.
She said if they are not educating the family, or listening to the child, the child is going to end up right back in handcuffs and transported to a crisis facility.
“Kids are handcuffed and shackled and put in a white van that is not marked and then taken to a crisis unit that is only serves as a Band aid,” Cross said, adding that they need to understand where the crisis came from to help.
She said one of their most popular services is their peer support specialist who meets the student where they are – making the service completely mobile. The parent has to provide consent for them to meet with the child.
“All services are free. No one has to worry about expense of mental health services,” Cross said, adding that they offer alltime mental health care 24 hours a day seven days a week. “We have a hotline that you get a live person. Call us. We can talk about it. What we are doing is working – we are keeping 92-94% out of the crisis unit. We are keeping people out of hospitals and jails by providing mental health care.”
The topic of turning to drugs, nicotine, vaping, and alcohol as a form of self-medication was also addressed.
Liberto said very often it is easy to adapt coping strategies that are easy, satisfying, and quick to give relief.
“Unfortunately, it is starting younger and younger – putting substance in hands of vulnerable young children,” she said. “Initially it solves the problem – I don’t have to ask for help anymore. It’s not a healthy, long-term solution.”
Belamarich said the best analogy she could provide is the “committee in your head” is activated, as the voice becomes very loud.
“The minute the committee starts spiking up a conversation is the minute you seek help,” she said, adding that youth need to find healthy coping strategies. “Figure out coping that is not detrimental to you early, so by the time you are older you know how to work it.”
Long-term solutions
What long-term changes to better support youth mental health was also a question to the panel.
“We need more funding and more access,” Brooks said. “It takes the entire community. Funding provides greater access to services.”
Cross said with funding, she can hire more staff to offer more free mental health care.
Belamarich said they need to surrender — surrender to do something better.
“If we don’t do that, we can’t even do the next steps,” she said, adding they need to bring funding towards things that work. “The purpose of mental health treatment isn’t to continue to go through crisis, it’s to live a long and healthy life.”
Liberto said Lee Health is evolving in terms of a medical organization by asking questions at primary care visits to expand the parameters in which they evaluate mental health from the front door.
“We have a good beginning, but we need to continue to grow and evolve,” she said.
Nelson-Lastra, who is also the liaison for the Youth Council, committed to the Youth Council that she will keep working on mental health, as there are no specific service centers in Cape Coral.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com