North Shore high schools are experiencing a colourful new approach to the topic of mental health.
This past May and June, Sutherland, Sentinel, Seycove, West Vancouver and St. Thomas Aquinas secondary schools were papered with a Stars and Sticky Notes campaign designed by the Youth Leadership Advisory Board (YouthLAB) of Family Services of the North Shore. Based on similar campaigns across Canada and in the United States, the stars campaign consists of six messages printed on brightly coloured stars.
"They are meant to be compelling and a little subversive in their wording and presentation. We hope when students encounter them they will see themselves reflected in the messages," says project co-ordinator Shelley Hine.
Each star is intended to subtly reference a common mental health issue: depression, abuse, disordered eating, anxiety and bullying.
The hope is that the campaign will inspire struggling youth to reach out for help.
The campaign offers six messages printed on sticky notes that are meant to inspire. These are aimed at students experiencing difficulties.
"Being in high school is a stressful time, especially at the end of the school year. We imagined students finding a quote that's meaningful to them and sticking it into a notebook or inside their locker as a way to add some light to an otherwise difficult situation," says Hine.
Statistics show that 11 per cent of B.C. youth are living with depression, 25 per cent are impacted by anxiety, and 26 per cent have disordered eating. There are no reliable statistics tracking the number of youth experiencing bullying behaviours, but the assumption is that these numbers are high.
"We know only a small percentage of those young people are getting the kind of assistance they need in order to enjoy happy and productive lives."
The agency hopes these initiatives will not only inspire youth to seek help, but also to talk about their experiences with mental health issues.
"There's such a need to have the important conversations with youth about all these issues," says Hine. "We want to help spark some real, honest communication about the real life difficulties of youth."
Now in its second year, YouthLAB was designed to educate its 12 members on crucial mental health issues and to design communication campaigns to reach youth for whom the stigma of seeking counselling is a barrier to getting help.
"We know there are hundreds of youth not getting to us for all kinds of reasons," says Julia Staub-French, executive director of Family Services of the North Shore. "We wanted to reach youth using language and messaging they could relate to, and we needed the insights of their peers to do that."
Last year the group wrote and acted in a video on youth mental health that was then presented, with discussion questions, at North Shore high schools. This year the video was again presented to 500 North Shore students, and the new campaigns were added.
Ultimately, this project is Family Services' way of creating an opportunity for honest conversation about youth mental health.
"We know people are suffering, and we know it can be extremely isolating to live with these issues. We would like to be the kind of mental health service that makes youth feel they have an ally in this. We want them to know they do not have to go through this alone," says Hine.
The message is clear for youth and adults alike: if you are struggling with mental health issues, things can get better, and help is available right here on the North Shore.
The YouthLAB, an initiative within the Child and Youth Counselling and Prevention Program at Family Services of the North Shore, is funded by private and corporate donations to the organization, such as the Northshore Auto Mall. There is currently a Telus campaign underway, which is targeted to raise $50,000 for Family Services to continue to support at-risk children and youth in our community.
YouthLAB applications are now being accepted for 2014/2015. The deadline is July 24. Visit familyservices.bc.ca to fill out the online application form.
To access counselling services, learn more about mental health resources or bring the YouthLAB's Stars and Sticky Notes campaign to your school or community agency, contact Family Services of the North Shore at 604-988-5281 or visit its website.
Val Lev Dolgin, MA, R.C.C., is a child and youth therapist and serves as YouthLAB co-ordinator at Family Services of the North Shore.
