May 30, 2025 • 20 mins
Quincy is joined again by Dr. Latoya Lee, Board Certified as a Family Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, to discuss depression and suicide in teens. Listen in to learn about the symptoms and signs, and what you can do as a parent to get help.
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Episode Transcript
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UNKNOWN (00:00):
🎵🎵
SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
Welcome back.
This podcast is a communityhealth initiative brought to you
by Frontier Nursing Universityand the Woodford County Chamber
of Commerce to improve communityhealth and increase healthcare
awareness.
Today's episode is going to be alittle heavy.
Did you know approximately 2million adolescents attempt
suicide each year?
Today we are going to talk aboutdepression and suicide in teens.
(00:33):
According to the Children'sHospital Association's Pediatric
Health Information System,between 20 In 2016 and 2022,
children's hospitals saw a 166%increase in emergency department
visits for suicide attempts andself-injury among children from
ages 5 to 18.
(00:54):
Joining me today is Dr.
Latoya Lee, who has been on theshow before.
Dr.
Lee is a board-certified familypsychiatric mental health nurse
practitioner who practices herein Kentucky and takes a
holistic, whole-body approach tomedication management.
and helps patients acrossvarious age groups find balance
and relief from mental healthchallenges through compassionate
(01:15):
and personalized care.
Dr.
Lee, thank you so much forjoining me.
Thank you for having me again.
So let's talk about depressionin teens and children.
What does that look like, andwhat is depression in teens?
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
So depression in teens, again, will look more
like that irritable, loss ofinterest, decreased motivation,
a lot of withdrawal in theirroom, and then you might see a
lot of emotional behaviorissues.
outburst or just a change fromthe person that they were
(01:53):
before.
Some of that could be hormonal,but some of it we need to think
about what's going on with thatadolescent or teen.
And is it more than justhormones?
Is it depression?
Because that is, it's a toughtime to be a teenager,
especially right now.
And they have a lot of bodychanges.
(02:13):
They are sometimes having friendchanges.
We're changing schools.
And this is around the time,unfortunately, that we have some
of your families that are goingthrough divorce or changes at
home.
SPEAKER_00 (02:30):
So how, physically, how is it impacting?
Like when we see depression inteens, physically, what does
that look like?
SPEAKER_01 (02:39):
Physically, it could look like they're not sleeping.
They're having loss of appetite,very fatigued.
And again, you can have somebelly aches, headaches, just
overall not feeling very wellphysically.
That would be your symptoms.
SPEAKER_00 (03:03):
As a parent or community member, so whether
you're a teacher or a neighbor,what are some of the signs we're
looking for?
So I know it's kind of like allthose symptoms, but...
SPEAKER_01 (03:15):
You'll see changes in their personality.
So maybe they don't want to playbaseball anymore.
They used to love playingbaseball.
Why you don't want to playbaseball anymore?
They're very more self-criticsof their self.
They're starting to put theirself down.
They could be crying more.
Again, that change ofconcentration and things like
(03:39):
that.
And we will start to see thatthey are declining in school or
they're starting to hang outwith different friends.
And then you need to startasking why.
Why are these things happening?
SPEAKER_00 (03:55):
And if I'm a parent of a teen and I think they're
depressed or I think something'sgoing on, what do I do?
How do I even approach that?
Especially with a teen.
you
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
you want to be not very critical you don't need to
you know kind of raise yourvoice and and say what's wrong
with you again you need to geton their eye level find a good
If that's before dinner, afterdinner, in the morning, wherever
you and them used to connect andsay, hey, I'm concerned because
(04:29):
of X, Y, and Z.
I saw that you not hanging outwith your friend anymore.
I saw that your grades arestarting to slip.
I have saw you staying in yourroom more often.
Kind of tell me what's going on.
Do we need to talk?
Do I need to find somebody foryou to talk to?
Because we're looking for thosesmall changes so that we can
(04:55):
prevent any kind of.
danger
SPEAKER_00 (04:57):
to their self later.
And what's the first step ingetting them help?
Is it seeing a therapist, theirprimary?
A lot of times they go to their
SPEAKER_01 (05:07):
primary first and then the primary is saying, hey,
this is a little bit more thanwhat I can do.
And so then they'll send you tothe therapist or if we are
having those thoughts ofself-harm and self-harm could be
cutting or burning or thoughtsof ending life they will they
(05:29):
will usually send them to peoplelike me like to the specialists
and and how do you treat that umFirst, we do a great assessment.
So I'm trying to see what kindof depression we have.
Is it just us laying in the bedcrying and sad?
Or is it that we're having a lotof that decreased motivation,
(05:50):
decreased energy, lack of sleep?
And if we are having thosesuicidal thoughts, how seriously
are they?
At that point, then we're goingto kind of see what treatment
is.
But we also have to get to theroot of why.
Why is very important.
so that that way we can discussit with the therapist.
(06:11):
We can discuss it in my office.
We can discuss it with mom anddad, but we need to figure out
why.
Because is this just asituational problem or is this
the start of some mental healththat could be genetic or
something that we're going tohave lifelong problems with?
SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
And what are some of the most common whys or causes
that you're
SPEAKER_01 (06:47):
seeing?
Next, it will be social media.
(07:08):
Social media has been a bigkicker on the depression type of
reasoning because they're notonly getting bullied online,
they are comparing theirself topeople that are online.
And everything we see online isnot normal.
It is not real life.
(07:30):
But their brains can't processthat.
SPEAKER_00 (07:32):
Yeah.
How...
How do we as parents prevent thebullying or take control of the
bullying before it causes thedepression?
And same with social media.
Are there checks that we need inplace?
Like kids don't need to be onsocial media.
Like what is that?
What do you recommend?
SPEAKER_01 (07:54):
I highly recommend that you, especially if they
have a phone, you need to havean understanding about the
phone.
You bought the phone as theparent.
It's still your phone.
You're letting the kid borrowit.
So at any time, I should be ableto check that phone.
At any time.
And if you won't let me checkthe phone, then it is my phone.
(08:16):
And I feel like that is some ofthe gray area that we're in.
And we need to make sure thatwe're being the parent and not
the friend.
Right.
And we need to be checking thephone.
I call myself, I have ateenager, the FBI.
I'm checking that phone everyday if I can because I need to
(08:37):
know what's going on.
I need to know what's going onat school.
Not that I don't trust him, butAnd I'll need to know what what
other friends and stuff aresaying.
SPEAKER_00 (08:46):
Right.
So it's it's not that you don'ttrust your kid.
You don't trust other kids orother people.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (08:51):
And and that's it's just a big responsibility for a
little brain.
Right.
Right.
And they're just some of themare not mature enough and they
don't.
They don't really understand.
And so you have to be able totalk to your kids about
everything, especially whenwe're talking about the teenage
years.
And there's different apps thatyou can get.
(09:12):
There's different phones thatyou can get for your child so
that you can monitor it.
And I highly recommend them.
You can Google that.
There's one called the Bark app,and you can see what happens on
your kid's phone and who they'retalking to.
Because even...
(09:33):
even at nighttime and evenduring the school day they're
getting all this sent to themyou know and people think it's
it's funny to take picturesduring school and then the
pictures get circulated aroundthe school and then what happens
they're they're anxious they'resad they don't want to go back
to school because so-and-so'smake fun of them and then if
they put it on social media it'sjust a snowball effect and and
(09:57):
kids are just don't understandat that point that eventually
it's going to go away but atthat moment it's so catastrophic
and so they they're feeling likeit's the end of the world and so
that's what kind of sparks a lotof that the depression because
they think it's the end of theworld everybody's talking about
them because in middle schoolespecially you just want to be
(10:19):
like everybody else you don'twant to be called out right and
so that's that's the majority ofmy patients that i see with a
lot of depression um they're inthat middle school setting okay
SPEAKER_00 (10:31):
So that was actually my next question.
Times of life that lead to moredepression in kids.
SPEAKER_01 (10:39):
I feel like it is that middle school age.
It is tough.
It's very tough.
And then later on, when the 16,17, 18...
that seems to be another thing.
Transitions through high school.
Yes, transitions in high schoolwhen they start to drive.
(11:01):
And then you have all that peerpressure.
And then you also have thepressure of, and I'm even guilty
of it too, when they come in.
So what are you going to doafter high school?
That triggers a lot ofdepression because we're asking
this 18-year-old, what do youwant to do for the rest of your
life?
And some of them take that verypersonal.
(11:23):
And so then they're trying tojust like figure it all out.
Or you have the ones that if itdon't go this way, my whole
world's going to end.
So it's just very much a highbalance or fine balance of
knowing your kid and we'reputting a lot of pressure on our
kids right now in this day andage.
(11:44):
And I think that as a society,we're not doing very well with
that.
SPEAKER_00 (11:49):
Isn't that the truth?
I think about that all the time,about the amount of pressure and
stress and the schedules we'reputting on our kids.
SPEAKER_01 (11:57):
Exactly.
I mean, even my kids, we playmultiple sports.
We're in school.
And I'm like, Latoya, you've gotto take it back.
You have to think about what'sgoing on and is this too much
for your kids.
SPEAKER_00 (12:12):
So something you said earlier.
you know looking out if your kidloves baseball and they're
suddenly not wanting to play sopart of it could be red flag but
also it might be a light bulblike yeah hello they need to
take a step back
SPEAKER_01 (12:28):
yes it could be that oh well this this is not going
to pan out this was my dreamwhat am I going to do now or it
could be I don't really find anyenjoyment in this anymore
because maybe the coaches andthings like that are putting too
much expectations on the righton the And that could solve any
problems.
Yes.
(12:48):
So you just really have to havethat open communication when you
have an adolescent.
It's a fine balance.
And research has showed thatbeing more of that negative
parenting style even increasesdepression chances for your kid.
SPEAKER_00 (13:09):
So I'm hearing not being reactive.
SPEAKER_01 (13:12):
Which is very hard because, again, you're going to
have those hormones, right?
Yes, yeah.
And so it's just really a finebalance.
And you don't want to be theirfriend, but you don't want to be
a dictator as well.
And so you have to figure outwhat works for your kid.
But having that opencommunication and having that
relationship is what I alwayshighly recommend for all my
(13:36):
parents.
SPEAKER_00 (13:37):
Yeah.
So if I'm a kid, I'm a teen, andI think I might be depressed,
I'm afraid to tell my mombecause I don't want to upset
her.
What do I do?
SPEAKER_01 (13:47):
So a lot of schools have a mental health component
built into their online, youknow, like their Canvas or
whatever they do at school.
And you can reach out throughthere.
Of course, a lot of kids knowhow to do the Google, right?
(14:07):
And so you can Google mentalhealth and all these resources
come up.
But if we're talking aboutsuicide, we could always call
988.
That's the national hotline forsuicide.
And I make sure that all myteenagers have that as that is
always a resource that does notmean the people are going to
(14:28):
come get you but it is going tohelp you process what's going on
and I know that there was a hugeinitiative during the Biden
Harris administration and theywere they have put in a lot of
resources and money into theschool funding for mental health
and I think that's why we'reseeing that a lot of the kids
(14:50):
know that they can go to aspecial site at school and send
that they need help and it's avery private thing and and
they'll be contacted and um alot of the schools have
psychologists and therapists onsite now
SPEAKER_00 (15:08):
can a kid call you directly like your office
directly or do they need aparent to do that
SPEAKER_01 (15:14):
um unfortunately here in kentucky yes you need a
parent um But the parent justhas to consent.
After that, they don't have toalways be in the office.
Other states have differentrules.
What I learned just this week asI've been here on campus at
Frontier is that in Oregon, theconsenting age, especially for
(15:38):
mental health, is 13.
So I highly encourage anyadolescent to do that research
of wherever you're at right nowand to see what age you have to
be to take care of your ownmental health.
SPEAKER_00 (15:52):
Okay, so having that school resource is super
important if they need toperhaps bypass it.
And more
SPEAKER_01 (15:59):
than 90% of schools have that now.
So that's why I bring that upbecause a lot of, and they are
also already spilling it intothe elementary and for the
fourth and fifth graders.
SPEAKER_00 (16:12):
Okay.
As we're approaching summer,school's out, what do we do for
our kids when they're homealone?
And especially if there arethings that are stemming from
family family life exactly um
SPEAKER_01 (16:28):
and so for for those students um hopefully they've
already been kind of flagged atschool and and has some of those
resources but they need tofigure out who their support
person is who your person isthat you can talk to and again
parents need to make sure thatthey're not isolating all the
time that we're not on socialmedia all the time um If they
(16:52):
were to come see me, I give themworkbooks, mental health
workbooks.
So that's something that we canwork on.
But we need to figure out whatmakes you tick, what makes you
happy, and those type of hobbiesand things like that.
Because what that does is itmakes your own dopamine.
Dopamine is your happy.
(17:13):
It's one of your happyneurotransmitters in your brain.
So if you like to go outside, weneed to get you outside
regularly.
Plus, that's also going to giveyou vitamin D.
Vitamin D helps with energy andthings like that.
So if you're going to be homeall summer, let's make sure that
they're not isolated.
Let's make sure that they havesomebody to talk to or to really
(17:37):
in adolescence they don't playbut hang out with.
Just having that person is goingto be the world of difference.
SPEAKER_00 (17:45):
And as community members, too.
noticing those kids and makingsure that they know that you are
there for them yes as neighborsas friends
SPEAKER_01 (17:56):
yes and that and that's that's that's one thing
it takes a community to raise akid right and so um hopefully
that person has you knowneighbors and and things like
that and we need to we just needto listen um if somebody comes
up to your and thinks they'rethey're concerned about your kid
you know take it intoconsideration talk to your kid
(18:18):
and and because the best thingfor that kid is is to figure out
what's going on and see if wecan get them some help
SPEAKER_02 (18:27):
yeah
SPEAKER_01 (18:28):
any final thoughts um just Just know what your
state resources are of whereyou're at.
And especially for kids.
They're so tech savvy thesedays.
And there's even podcasts.
There's podcasts out there foradolescents and mental health.
(18:53):
Look those up.
That's something that YouTube,YouTube channels.
There's all kinds for
SPEAKER_00 (18:59):
kids.
And there are ways to copeonline.
on your own so like the calm appI know yes we've recommended
that on the show before the
SPEAKER_01 (19:06):
calm app yes that's that's a definitely a good one
um the mindfulness um there's amindfulness app for adolescents
and all they have to do is putmindfulness on their on their
phone but also those um thosecoloring books and things I
highly recommend them I alwayshave them in my office and and
give them a couple sheets if ifthey don't have any um but just
(19:30):
keeping that mind active and andnot so much on the computer and
the video games and the socialmedia.
Well, thank you
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
so much for joining me today for this.
Well, thank you for having me.
Thank you for joining us fortoday's episode.
If you or someone you know isdealing with a mental health
crisis or suicidal thoughts,please call 988 and we'll see
you next time.
This podcast is brought to youby Frontier Nursing University
and the Woodford County Chamberof Commerce and is part of the
What's Up Woodford Network.
🎵🎵
SPEAKER_00 (00:09):
Welcome back.
This podcast is a communityhealth initiative brought to you
by Frontier Nursing Universityand the Woodford County Chamber
of Commerce to improve communityhealth and increase healthcare
awareness.
Today's episode is going to be alittle heavy.
Did you know approximately 2million adolescents attempt
suicide each year?
Today we are going to talk aboutdepression and suicide in teens.
(00:33):
According to the Children'sHospital Association's Pediatric
Health Information System,between 20 In 2016 and 2022,
children's hospitals saw a 166%increase in emergency department
visits for suicide attempts andself-injury among children from
ages 5 to 18.
(00:54):
Joining me today is Dr.
Latoya Lee, who has been on theshow before.
Dr.
Lee is a board-certified familypsychiatric mental health nurse
practitioner who practices herein Kentucky and takes a
holistic, whole-body approach tomedication management.
and helps patients acrossvarious age groups find balance
and relief from mental healthchallenges through compassionate
(01:15):
and personalized care.
Dr.
Lee, thank you so much forjoining me.
Thank you for having me again.
So let's talk about depressionin teens and children.
What does that look like, andwhat is depression in teens?
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
So depression in teens, again, will look more
like that irritable, loss ofinterest, decreased motivation,
a lot of withdrawal in theirroom, and then you might see a
lot of emotional behaviorissues.
outburst or just a change fromthe person that they were
(01:53):
before.
Some of that could be hormonal,but some of it we need to think
about what's going on with thatadolescent or teen.
And is it more than justhormones?
Is it depression?
Because that is, it's a toughtime to be a teenager,
especially right now.
And they have a lot of bodychanges.
(02:13):
They are sometimes having friendchanges.
We're changing schools.
And this is around the time,unfortunately, that we have some
of your families that are goingthrough divorce or changes at
home.
SPEAKER_00 (02:30):
So how, physically, how is it impacting?
Like when we see depression inteens, physically, what does
that look like?
SPEAKER_01 (02:39):
Physically, it could look like they're not sleeping.
They're having loss of appetite,very fatigued.
And again, you can have somebelly aches, headaches, just
overall not feeling very wellphysically.
That would be your symptoms.
SPEAKER_00 (03:03):
As a parent or community member, so whether
you're a teacher or a neighbor,what are some of the signs we're
looking for?
So I know it's kind of like allthose symptoms, but...
SPEAKER_01 (03:15):
You'll see changes in their personality.
So maybe they don't want to playbaseball anymore.
They used to love playingbaseball.
Why you don't want to playbaseball anymore?
They're very more self-criticsof their self.
They're starting to put theirself down.
They could be crying more.
Again, that change ofconcentration and things like
(03:39):
that.
And we will start to see thatthey are declining in school or
they're starting to hang outwith different friends.
And then you need to startasking why.
Why are these things happening?
SPEAKER_00 (03:55):
And if I'm a parent of a teen and I think they're
depressed or I think something'sgoing on, what do I do?
How do I even approach that?
Especially with a teen.
you
SPEAKER_01 (04:07):
you want to be not very critical you don't need to
you know kind of raise yourvoice and and say what's wrong
with you again you need to geton their eye level find a good
If that's before dinner, afterdinner, in the morning, wherever
you and them used to connect andsay, hey, I'm concerned because
(04:29):
of X, Y, and Z.
I saw that you not hanging outwith your friend anymore.
I saw that your grades arestarting to slip.
I have saw you staying in yourroom more often.
Kind of tell me what's going on.
Do we need to talk?
Do I need to find somebody foryou to talk to?
Because we're looking for thosesmall changes so that we can
(04:55):
prevent any kind of.
danger
SPEAKER_00 (04:57):
to their self later.
And what's the first step ingetting them help?
Is it seeing a therapist, theirprimary?
A lot of times they go to their
SPEAKER_01 (05:07):
primary first and then the primary is saying, hey,
this is a little bit more thanwhat I can do.
And so then they'll send you tothe therapist or if we are
having those thoughts ofself-harm and self-harm could be
cutting or burning or thoughtsof ending life they will they
(05:29):
will usually send them to peoplelike me like to the specialists
and and how do you treat that umFirst, we do a great assessment.
So I'm trying to see what kindof depression we have.
Is it just us laying in the bedcrying and sad?
Or is it that we're having a lotof that decreased motivation,
(05:50):
decreased energy, lack of sleep?
And if we are having thosesuicidal thoughts, how seriously
are they?
At that point, then we're goingto kind of see what treatment
is.
But we also have to get to theroot of why.
Why is very important.
so that that way we can discussit with the therapist.
(06:11):
We can discuss it in my office.
We can discuss it with mom anddad, but we need to figure out
why.
Because is this just asituational problem or is this
the start of some mental healththat could be genetic or
something that we're going tohave lifelong problems with?
SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
And what are some of the most common whys or causes
that you're
SPEAKER_01 (06:47):
seeing?
Next, it will be social media.
(07:08):
Social media has been a bigkicker on the depression type of
reasoning because they're notonly getting bullied online,
they are comparing theirself topeople that are online.
And everything we see online isnot normal.
It is not real life.
(07:30):
But their brains can't processthat.
SPEAKER_00 (07:32):
Yeah.
How...
How do we as parents prevent thebullying or take control of the
bullying before it causes thedepression?
And same with social media.
Are there checks that we need inplace?
Like kids don't need to be onsocial media.
Like what is that?
What do you recommend?
SPEAKER_01 (07:54):
I highly recommend that you, especially if they
have a phone, you need to havean understanding about the
phone.
You bought the phone as theparent.
It's still your phone.
You're letting the kid borrowit.
So at any time, I should be ableto check that phone.
At any time.
And if you won't let me checkthe phone, then it is my phone.
(08:16):
And I feel like that is some ofthe gray area that we're in.
And we need to make sure thatwe're being the parent and not
the friend.
Right.
And we need to be checking thephone.
I call myself, I have ateenager, the FBI.
I'm checking that phone everyday if I can because I need to
(08:37):
know what's going on.
I need to know what's going onat school.
Not that I don't trust him, butAnd I'll need to know what what
other friends and stuff aresaying.
SPEAKER_00 (08:46):
Right.
So it's it's not that you don'ttrust your kid.
You don't trust other kids orother people.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (08:51):
And and that's it's just a big responsibility for a
little brain.
Right.
Right.
And they're just some of themare not mature enough and they
don't.
They don't really understand.
And so you have to be able totalk to your kids about
everything, especially whenwe're talking about the teenage
years.
And there's different apps thatyou can get.
(09:12):
There's different phones thatyou can get for your child so
that you can monitor it.
And I highly recommend them.
You can Google that.
There's one called the Bark app,and you can see what happens on
your kid's phone and who they'retalking to.
Because even...
(09:33):
even at nighttime and evenduring the school day they're
getting all this sent to themyou know and people think it's
it's funny to take picturesduring school and then the
pictures get circulated aroundthe school and then what happens
they're they're anxious they'resad they don't want to go back
to school because so-and-so'smake fun of them and then if
they put it on social media it'sjust a snowball effect and and
(09:57):
kids are just don't understandat that point that eventually
it's going to go away but atthat moment it's so catastrophic
and so they they're feeling likeit's the end of the world and so
that's what kind of sparks a lotof that the depression because
they think it's the end of theworld everybody's talking about
them because in middle schoolespecially you just want to be
(10:19):
like everybody else you don'twant to be called out right and
so that's that's the majority ofmy patients that i see with a
lot of depression um they're inthat middle school setting okay
SPEAKER_00 (10:31):
So that was actually my next question.
Times of life that lead to moredepression in kids.
SPEAKER_01 (10:39):
I feel like it is that middle school age.
It is tough.
It's very tough.
And then later on, when the 16,17, 18...
that seems to be another thing.
Transitions through high school.
Yes, transitions in high schoolwhen they start to drive.
(11:01):
And then you have all that peerpressure.
And then you also have thepressure of, and I'm even guilty
of it too, when they come in.
So what are you going to doafter high school?
That triggers a lot ofdepression because we're asking
this 18-year-old, what do youwant to do for the rest of your
life?
And some of them take that verypersonal.
(11:23):
And so then they're trying tojust like figure it all out.
Or you have the ones that if itdon't go this way, my whole
world's going to end.
So it's just very much a highbalance or fine balance of
knowing your kid and we'reputting a lot of pressure on our
kids right now in this day andage.
(11:44):
And I think that as a society,we're not doing very well with
that.
SPEAKER_00 (11:49):
Isn't that the truth?
I think about that all the time,about the amount of pressure and
stress and the schedules we'reputting on our kids.
SPEAKER_01 (11:57):
Exactly.
I mean, even my kids, we playmultiple sports.
We're in school.
And I'm like, Latoya, you've gotto take it back.
You have to think about what'sgoing on and is this too much
for your kids.
SPEAKER_00 (12:12):
So something you said earlier.
you know looking out if your kidloves baseball and they're
suddenly not wanting to play sopart of it could be red flag but
also it might be a light bulblike yeah hello they need to
take a step back
SPEAKER_01 (12:28):
yes it could be that oh well this this is not going
to pan out this was my dreamwhat am I going to do now or it
could be I don't really find anyenjoyment in this anymore
because maybe the coaches andthings like that are putting too
much expectations on the righton the And that could solve any
problems.
Yes.
(12:48):
So you just really have to havethat open communication when you
have an adolescent.
It's a fine balance.
And research has showed thatbeing more of that negative
parenting style even increasesdepression chances for your kid.
SPEAKER_00 (13:09):
So I'm hearing not being reactive.
SPEAKER_01 (13:12):
Which is very hard because, again, you're going to
have those hormones, right?
Yes, yeah.
And so it's just really a finebalance.
And you don't want to be theirfriend, but you don't want to be
a dictator as well.
And so you have to figure outwhat works for your kid.
But having that opencommunication and having that
relationship is what I alwayshighly recommend for all my
(13:36):
parents.
SPEAKER_00 (13:37):
Yeah.
So if I'm a kid, I'm a teen, andI think I might be depressed,
I'm afraid to tell my mombecause I don't want to upset
her.
What do I do?
SPEAKER_01 (13:47):
So a lot of schools have a mental health component
built into their online, youknow, like their Canvas or
whatever they do at school.
And you can reach out throughthere.
Of course, a lot of kids knowhow to do the Google, right?
(14:07):
And so you can Google mentalhealth and all these resources
come up.
But if we're talking aboutsuicide, we could always call
988.
That's the national hotline forsuicide.
And I make sure that all myteenagers have that as that is
always a resource that does notmean the people are going to
(14:28):
come get you but it is going tohelp you process what's going on
and I know that there was a hugeinitiative during the Biden
Harris administration and theywere they have put in a lot of
resources and money into theschool funding for mental health
and I think that's why we'reseeing that a lot of the kids
(14:50):
know that they can go to aspecial site at school and send
that they need help and it's avery private thing and and
they'll be contacted and um alot of the schools have
psychologists and therapists onsite now
SPEAKER_00 (15:08):
can a kid call you directly like your office
directly or do they need aparent to do that
SPEAKER_01 (15:14):
um unfortunately here in kentucky yes you need a
parent um But the parent justhas to consent.
After that, they don't have toalways be in the office.
Other states have differentrules.
What I learned just this week asI've been here on campus at
Frontier is that in Oregon, theconsenting age, especially for
(15:38):
mental health, is 13.
So I highly encourage anyadolescent to do that research
of wherever you're at right nowand to see what age you have to
be to take care of your ownmental health.
SPEAKER_00 (15:52):
Okay, so having that school resource is super
important if they need toperhaps bypass it.
And more
SPEAKER_01 (15:59):
than 90% of schools have that now.
So that's why I bring that upbecause a lot of, and they are
also already spilling it intothe elementary and for the
fourth and fifth graders.
SPEAKER_00 (16:12):
Okay.
As we're approaching summer,school's out, what do we do for
our kids when they're homealone?
And especially if there arethings that are stemming from
family family life exactly um
SPEAKER_01 (16:28):
and so for for those students um hopefully they've
already been kind of flagged atschool and and has some of those
resources but they need tofigure out who their support
person is who your person isthat you can talk to and again
parents need to make sure thatthey're not isolating all the
time that we're not on socialmedia all the time um If they
(16:52):
were to come see me, I give themworkbooks, mental health
workbooks.
So that's something that we canwork on.
But we need to figure out whatmakes you tick, what makes you
happy, and those type of hobbiesand things like that.
Because what that does is itmakes your own dopamine.
Dopamine is your happy.
(17:13):
It's one of your happyneurotransmitters in your brain.
So if you like to go outside, weneed to get you outside
regularly.
Plus, that's also going to giveyou vitamin D.
Vitamin D helps with energy andthings like that.
So if you're going to be homeall summer, let's make sure that
they're not isolated.
Let's make sure that they havesomebody to talk to or to really
(17:37):
in adolescence they don't playbut hang out with.
Just having that person is goingto be the world of difference.
SPEAKER_00 (17:45):
And as community members, too.
noticing those kids and makingsure that they know that you are
there for them yes as neighborsas friends
SPEAKER_01 (17:56):
yes and that and that's that's that's one thing
it takes a community to raise akid right and so um hopefully
that person has you knowneighbors and and things like
that and we need to we just needto listen um if somebody comes
up to your and thinks they'rethey're concerned about your kid
you know take it intoconsideration talk to your kid
(18:18):
and and because the best thingfor that kid is is to figure out
what's going on and see if wecan get them some help
SPEAKER_02 (18:27):
yeah
SPEAKER_01 (18:28):
any final thoughts um just Just know what your
state resources are of whereyou're at.
And especially for kids.
They're so tech savvy thesedays.
And there's even podcasts.
There's podcasts out there foradolescents and mental health.
(18:53):
Look those up.
That's something that YouTube,YouTube channels.
There's all kinds for
SPEAKER_00 (18:59):
kids.
And there are ways to copeonline.
on your own so like the calm appI know yes we've recommended
that on the show before the
SPEAKER_01 (19:06):
calm app yes that's that's a definitely a good one
um the mindfulness um there's amindfulness app for adolescents
and all they have to do is putmindfulness on their on their
phone but also those um thosecoloring books and things I
highly recommend them I alwayshave them in my office and and
give them a couple sheets if ifthey don't have any um but just
(19:30):
keeping that mind active and andnot so much on the computer and
the video games and the socialmedia.
Well, thank you
SPEAKER_00 (19:41):
so much for joining me today for this.
Well, thank you for having me.
Thank you for joining us fortoday's episode.
If you or someone you know isdealing with a mental health
crisis or suicidal thoughts,please call 988 and we'll see
you next time.
This podcast is brought to youby Frontier Nursing University
and the Woodford County Chamberof Commerce and is part of the
What's Up Woodford Network.
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