Schools and Mental Health

At one of my programs, one of the teenagers and I had a conversation about mental health in children. I’m not sure how we started talking about it. But she stated that she had her next therapy appointment scheduled for this month. We then discussed medication and things she does to help her mental health, like reading and listening to music.

At some point, she mentioned that she doesn’t think that her school understands what having a mental health diagnosis, isn’t something that goes away once the problem is solved. She then said that her school made all the students listen to a parent talk about how their child killed themself and why.

I asked if she was allowed to have skipped it and she replied that it was mandatory. She watched as her friend had a panic attack during the parent’s presentation. She said that her friend began to snap a rubber band against her wrist as a coping mechanism. When I asked her how it affected her, she said that she tried to block out what was being said by zoning out.

I had to give my opinion on this, as someone in the mental health industry, and stated that the school is trying to acknowledge that bullying and mental health exists in children, however forcing students of all ages to listen to a parent talk about how their child killed themself is awful.

There was a TV show that came out about five years ago called “13 Reason Why”. The main character recalls all 13 “Reasons” that caused her to kill herself. The reasons include the person that raped her, her parents that ignored the fact that she was hurting, and her friends and teachers that didn’t help her. After this show was televised, it was criticized for showing “triggering moments” that could force someone that was struggling with mental health issues to slip back into a bad mind set, and several scenes had to be edited in order to be deemed fit for television.

I understand that sometimes the only way to get children and teenagers to listen is to force them to listen or sit through something that they aren’t interested in, just to get through to them. However, the triggers that a sensitive topic like this contains needs to be identified and discussed beforehand and it shouldn’t be something that someone is forced to sit and listen to.

How is what schools are doing by bringing in parents to talk about child and teen suicide any different from the TV show that received backlash for its explicit and sensitive content?