Gabriella Wong received a text from her father saying he had gotten into a car accident, and she immediately called 911 for him. Both of her parents are deaf, and she is their hearing emergency point of contact that represents a life-or-death difference for them. While Wong spoke to a dispatcher on the phone, she...
Tag: suicide
Missouri high school students recommend ways to improve school safety, student mental health
By Brie Zeltner and Malaya Mason St. Louis, MO - More licensed therapists on campus. Requiring parent or guardian participation in all school safety discussions. Implementing “calm rooms” where students can go to center themselves. Making every school inclusive and welcoming of students of all genders, sexual identities, races and abilities. These are just some...
Borough students talk mental health, racism in local high schools
By Brie Zeltner and Sarah Gandluri For Justin Soyka, the crisis came in middle school. During his 8th grade year, he survived two suicide attempts, and was hospitalized twice before he was able to get help for his depression, ADHD and crippling anxiety. “Growing up it wasn’t so easy not loving yourself and not being...
Missouri high school students call for more mental health services in schools to increase feelings of safety
St. Louis, Missouri -- Feeling safe in school was a problem in Missouri even before the pandemic added the unprecedented element of fear and anxiety of being exposed to a potentially deadly virus. As schools moved to remote learning, many of the daily concerns about physical safety in schools-- from bullying to school shooters-- decreased....
Youth fight for racial justice, and take their convictions to the polls
By Alan Gomez and Pamela Rentz With the world gripped by a global pandemic and protests over police brutality raging across the U.S., young adults and teenagers played a significant role in the activism work that defined 2020. Generation Z and Millenials were heavily involved in protests, marches, social media campaigns and the November elections....
Jacksonville youth face rising rates of trauma, mental health issues
By Angely Pena Agramonte Teens today are under a lot of stress: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that the proportion of young people visiting an emergency department due to a mental health crisis climbed by 31 percent during the six months between April and October of 2020. And that’s amidst a...
Surviving Trauma: COVID-19 Deaths Only One Trauma Young People of Color Face
BY SAMARAH BENTLEYURBAN HEALTH MEDIA PROJECTNEW ORLEANS -- In one week, a patient of New Orleans clinical psychologist Dr. Baraka Perez lost three family members to COVID-19: Her father, brother and a nephew. "I'm seeing more of that than I care to," said Perez, who for 20 years has been helping children, adolescents and their parents...