Neuqua Valley students tell U.S. surgeon general their mental health issues are true struggle

Apr. 19--Danny Appel is outgoing and involved in numerous after-school sports and clubs at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville. Yet the senior says he still struggles with his mental health.

"I've overcome a lot of the really harsh parts of my battle. I still deal with it," said the 17-year-old, who started dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts in the sixth grade.

Danny was one of a dozen Neuqua Valley students Monday morning who shared their personal experiences and the challenges they observe others facing every day, whether it's the obsession to look perfect on social media or the pressure to achieve at school.

Their audience was U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, who conversed via Zoom, and U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, who visited her alma mater in person.

Murthy said even before the pandemic, an alarming number of young people struggled with feelings of helplessness and depression and thoughts of suicide. The COVID-19 pandemic further altered their experiences at home, school and in the community, and the effect on their mental health has been devastating.

Between 2007 and 2018, suicide rates among youth ages 10-24 in the United States increased by 57%, according to National Vital Statistics Reports, and early estimates show more than 6,600 suicide deaths among this age group in 2020.

It is something Neuqua Valley community understands with the loss of two students in the past year from suicide.

The surgeon general said the well-being of the country depends on how it supports and invests in the next generation, which led him to issue an advisory in December highlighting the urgent need to address the nation's youth mental health crisis.

Underwood said she remembers the pressures Naperville high school students feel.

While the she never dealt with social media aspects like the students do today, the 2004 Neuqua alumna said some of the core issues existed when she attended the school. "And here we are, all these years later, still talking about these challenges," she said.

That is why, Underwood said, she helped secure $111 million to expand grant programs from the U.S. Department of Education that address the critical shortage of school-based mental health professionals and help school districts hire more staff to improve students' access to services.

The students agreed more help is needed.

Andrew Fargo said he's used Indian Prairie District 204 s mental health support system but he has friends who are more hesitant to reach out.

The junior said he and his peers should be facing hardships through camaraderie as people did in the past instead of alone in isolation like they do today.

"It's that isolation that keeps people from reaching out and actually forming that camaraderie that is needed to kind of get past this," he said.

No one is immune and no one is untouchable when it comes to mental health, according to Danny, who attributes some of the problem to how young people look down on others.

He recalled a time when his brother, who now has been sober for two years, was overdosing on fentanyl in school.

"Everybody just kind of disregarded it because they thought, you know, he's just some junkie who's just getting high during school. But he almost died in the middle of our main hallways," Danny said.

"People will think that they're better than you, and they'll tell you. But it's also that if people think that they're better than someone, they just completely disregard them as a human being," he added.

It's a challenge for those who feel devalued, the teens said.

Annika Teune said her dogs help on those days when it's hard to get out of bed because she's overcome by thoughts that she's not worthy.

"But my dog does not care that I feel like a sack of potatoes. She wants breakfast, and she wants to play fetch, and she wants to go for a walk," Annika said

The dog doesn't see her depression or anxiety.

"I might not exist to like billions of people on the planet, but to my dog, I am her entire world," Annika said

She added that because she's open about her mental health struggles, peers see her as a resource.

But she said she'd rather have fellow students reach out to school counselors who are trained.

"You also need to understand that I am also just a 17-old-old kid, and while I would love to empathize with you, which I can do, I am not a therapist," Annika said.

Murthy commended the students for getting at the heart of what drives mental struggles today.

Whether young or old, he said, people feel like they will never be valued as humans if they don't have enough money or good grades, attend the right college or have a perfect resume.

In the broader picture, Murthy said schools need to work with mental health professionals in the community to develop programs to address the needs of students.

On a smaller scale, students can do their part to improve people's lives.

"We think about the grand gestures as being the ones that tell us how people feel about us and make us feel better," Murthy said.

But he said research shows that small gestures of kindness actually help lift people up and create a community that cares about one another. "Building that culture of kindness is something that each of us can contribute. It has a really powerful effect on how people feel," he said.

subaker@tribpub.com

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