May is Mental Health Awareness Month and we at the FHN Family Counseling Center are proud to be a part of a number of observances in our communities.
One of the most visible campaigns we are a part of is area schools’ dress days for National Prevention Week. FHN Family Counseling Center and the Illinois Department of Human Services are encouraging the public to dress up, too!
Monday was green day to raise awareness of efforts to prevent prescription and opioid drug misuse.
Tuesday was red day to raise awareness of efforts to prevent underage drinking and alcohol misuse.
Today is wear black day to raise awareness of efforts to prevent illicit drug use and youth marijuana use.
Thursday is blue day in support of preventing youth tobacco use.
Friday, we’re asking students and community members to wear their school colors in support of efforts to prevent suicide.
Information on all of these prevention efforts is available at area schools, and if you’re interested or know someone who is struggling with substance misuse or a mental health issue, we’re here to help; just give us a call at 815-599-7300.
You can also find more information on National Prevention Week and the prevention efforts that go on all year long at SAMSHA.org.
Our towns, our teens
The Family Counseling Center cares for people of all ages, but many of our efforts are focused on helping youth and teens in our communities. The results of the most recent Illinois Youth Survey for Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties had some startling results on depression, suicide and dating violence:
• 23 percent of 10th-grade students in Stephenson County have seriously considered attempting suicide. And 30 percent of 10th-grade students in Jo Daviess County have felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that they stopped doing some of their usual activities.
• 20 percent of Jo Daviess County 12th-graders have reported that, in the past 12 months, while in a dating relationship, their partner put them down and tried to control them — and 11 percent reported being punched, kicked, slapped or threatened.
• The survey also asked questions about bullying. Some 53 percent of eighth-graders in Stephenson County and 48 percent of eighth-graders in Jo Daviess County have been bullied at least one time in the past 12 months.
Bias bullying, which is being bullied, harassed, or made fun of because of your appearance or a disability, or what someone assumed about your religion, sexual orientation, or race/ethnicity, is a problem among younger students: 21 percent of eighth-grade students in Stephenson County reported being bias bullied in the past 12 months. In Jo Daviess County, 17 percent of eighth-graders reported having been bias bullied in the past 12 months.
You can see the full results from your county at https://iys.cprd.illinois.edu/results/county.
We’re here to help
Mental Health Awareness Month gives us a chance to highlight some of the issues so many of us are facing and, more importantly, reach out and offer help.
FHN Family Counseling Center offers a wide variety of services to people of all ages, from individual, family, or group counseling to case management and community support services, substance abuse prevention and education, telepsychiatry, and of course, crisis services.
If you or a loved one needs help, call us at 815-599-7300. If it is a crisis situation, please call the CONTACT of Northern Illinois 24-hour crisis hotline at 815-233-4357.
Gabriel Gonzalez, MSW, is assistant vice president, Behavioral Health at FHN.