INDEX OF QUOTES
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We are young but need to be treated as human beings and not as a problem or a disorder. We are prototypes, not to be treated as stereotypes. School officials and health care providers must be framed to recognize and understand mental illness and its effects on us. The ignorance of the people who don’t understand hurts us. For example:
People who are supposed to be helping end up hurting us because they are not prepared and their training and our lives have not been made a priority. They contribute to the stigma of mental illness, which is perhaps one of the biggest barriers to our service. It hurts even more when a doctor or teacher rejects you than when a peer does. Now, I’m sure many of you are thinking that you would never do this to us, or that you are not ignorant in this way, so it’s not your concern. We tell you from our own experience of the professionals out there who are ignorant in this way that it is your concern—because it’s not going to change unless the system changes. And at least we hope that system change is why you are all here. Too often, once we get services (after fighting for them, or hitting a breaking point, or waiting on a waiting list for months), our services are hurried and disrespectful, and they don’t respond to who we ore as people, who we are in the context of our families and communities, and who we will one day become. Let’s not forget that a lot of this is about who we will become and whether or not we will be able to dream and achieve our dreams. Young people will live up to or down to the expectations of adults, teachers, and professionals in their environment. Providers and systems must highly value and expect the best from us. We need early prevention, better training for our parents, teachers, and other professionals, and more awareness about mental health so that youth with mental health issues are not stigmatized and thrown away. We need systems that can and do work together. Families, schools, and healthcare providers must collaborate in a collective effort to mobilize and train our communities to work together. We need accountability with checks and balances. Services’ goals should be developed by youth and families—before services are delivered. Services must be evaluated according to how these goals are achieved. For example:
You can do all the research you want, but if you forget who we are and what we need as people, and if you don’t respond to our needs in the system and in our individual treatment, you will fail, the system will fail, and we will bear the burden as we do now. You must include youth, bring us to the table, and when we show up, you must listen. |
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