001pleased to introduce Amanda Swindle with nami and this evening she will be presenting about ending the silence and speaking to us about mental health so again thank you for being here this evening she will give a time at the end if you have any questions thank you Dr Clay hi everyone as it was mentioned my name is Amanda Swindle I'm a volunteer with nami Nami stands for the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Nami is a Grassroots organization that focuses on education advocacy and awareness around mental health um and supporting individuals who may struggle with a mental health condition and the families associated with those loved ones as well um so the national office for Nami is actually in Arlington Virginia so right outside of DC the state office for Virginia is in Richmond and
002then we have different local Affiliates or chapters and so tonight's presentation was coordinated through the Central Virginia affiliate um but we do have um offices throughout those three levels federally out of um Arlington and then usually each state has one and then there's local affiliates this needs to be updated Emma was our program coordinator previously but as I mentioned um I'm a volunteer with nami I'm not employed by Nami I've actually been working with nami for about 12 years now I started when I was in college as an undergraduate student at Christopher Newport University I got involved with nami on campus and then over the years as I got older and went through different seasons of life my involvement with nami has changed and involved evolved over the years so my primary involvement now is
003as a volunteer doing these presentations ending the silence to increase awareness and open up discussion around mental illness and mental health conditions raise your hand if mental health or mental illness affects you or someone you know that's close to you and if you look around that's quite a few hands and we like to do that activity just to demonstrate that we're not alone often times if you're struggling with mental health or challenges um or have a loved one who is struggling it can feel very lonely and isolating um but just by the sheer number of hands that we saw in this room we know that it's very common to be struggling with mental health um and so it's important that we try to open up that dialogue and try to reduce the stigma around it
004another note about the slides you guys have I just noticed before we started that they may have been printed in the wrong order than what's going um what I'm presenting up here so I apologize for that the material is all there um but if it gets a little confusing in terms of orders I order of the slides I do apologize so our mental health can affect all facets of life it can affect our physical health it can affect how we take in information how we process and retain information so it can definitely affect um individuals in the learning environment it affects our relationships friendships parent child relationships siblings romantic relationships our development physical psychological [Music] emotional attendance and just overall success or being able to achieve whatever goals or Ambitions one might have for themsel
005so we're going to talk a little bit more about about the difference between mental health and mental illness also another caveat Nami just came out with these new slides this is my first time doing this presentation with this new slide format so if it looks like I'm reading a little bit more than I should be it's because it's it is fairly new um but talking about mental health we all have mental health just like we all have physical health right um but poor mental health doesn't necessarily mean you have a mental illness or a diagnosable mental health condition and the illness for mental illness is a difference in one's brain chemistry and um the signs and symptoms of that mental health concern being persistent enough that it is diagnosable um and is affecting their life
006to the degree that they would be diagnosed with a mental health condition um and so you see here at the bottom we also refer to mental illness as mental health condition or mental health disorder um and in in this day and age um we're very focused on language and the power and impact that language can have on how people identify with themselves and how they identify with the world um and so for me I try to refer to mental illness more as a mental health challenge or mental health condition because to me that feels a little bit more strength based um but at the end of the day it just com comes down to semantics so talking about epigenetics oops it's a big word for basically nature versus nurture um and so developing a mental
007health condition can definitely be passed down through generations it can be biological from one from a parent to a child or maybe from a grandparent and then we'll skip a generation and go down to the child so to their grandchild um but a mental health condition is also impacted by our environment and what we are exposed to um honestly from from the womb when you're in utero if you're exposed to Chronic and toxic stress in utero there is evidence and research to show that that could impact how that individual then manages and tolerate stress throughout their lifetime they may have a lower distress tolerance because of experiencing that on a chronic level in utero um and so you know genes and environment do contribute to the development of a or multiple mental health conditions um
008and it's hard to say exactly within one particular individual which may play a bigger role and more times than not it's a combination of both is anyone familiar with this term protective factors no okay great so protective factors we usually refer to them um in regards to protective factors and risk factors protective factors are basically things that help us function and do better in life in all areas so for example if you come from a two parent household and then your parents divorce sometimes the divorce may be viewed as a risk factor for developing other challenges it depends on the child but that's just one example um but the more that we're able to build protective factors within a child's life or an individual's life the higher rates of them building resiliency so that if
009mental health issues do occur later in life they're able to bounce back from it more effectively so it improves the rates of resiliency lowers the risk of developing certain illnesses not just mental healthwise but physical health as well and reduces the risk um the impact of risk factors risk factors other risk factors might be um having coming from low socioeconomic status or um having a physical disability uh learning disability things of that sort so these are all ways that as parents or supportive adults in a child's life or even just as adults ourselves can help build protective factors in ourselves and in other people so that second one down the second column over celebrating interest in school in learning that's a big one um I work with ch I'm a volunteer but I'm also a
010social worker by trade and I work with Children and adolescents and I love celebrating what I call the little wins if they do well on a test or they do well on a particular assignment or they're able to bring their grade up from a d to a c or a c to a b um really celebrating those successes and those wins this one on the right showing them how to articulate their feelings this is a big one because as a society we don't really teach ourselves to use feeling and emotion words we say hey how are you I'm fine I'm good fine might be a feeling word but that's not very descriptive it's very vague and Good's not a feeling or an emotion word um and so when I'm working with kids I have a
011lot of feelings charts in my office and they tease me for how many feelings charts I have but um it's very helpful to um to build those skills of being able to accurately identify what your feelings and emotions are and oftentimes there's other feelings and emotions under um like if you present with anger or irritability often times there's sadness or loneliness or hurt under that so having the vocabulary to express that and process that is really important that bottom corner one create appropriate consistent boundaries and discipline that consistency is key you want to be flexible enough to where you're able to go with the flow and adjust as needed but also ensure that you have appropriate limits and boundaries that's age appropriate you know the boundaries you put in place for a six-year-old are going
012to be different than a 16-year-old but being consistent with those boundaries while also recognizing that sometimes we have to also be flexible um the one above that teaching them how to build good coping skills coping skills for me um growing up I don't think I had them it took me struggling in high school and really in college to learn that healthy coping skills were really important um and entering into the workforce because if you get into the workforce and you don't have coping skills you know that's just a recipe for burn out um so coping skills for me are the the biggest one for me is trying to balance being social because I do enjoy being social with my friends but then having downtime at home as well because it's important to have that rest
013and recovery time um and sometimes I can get wrapped up in the go go go and making a lot of plans and so fortunately I have supportive people in my life that know when I'm getting wrapped up in that they'll say it sounds like you're stretching yourself thin should we take a step back and maybe take a couple of things off our plate um so that for me is a coping skill and of itself of course exercise and remaining active um is important sometimes I'm more consistent with that than others but but I do find that when I maintain that regular physical activity it does help to maintain um a better mood I went on a walk today with one of my uh adolescents that I work with for our session we took a mile
014and a half walk and just being able to be out in nature um and in the fresh air and thankfully it wasn't too cold it was crisp and fall but not too cold um was very nice so we have a couple questions here which protective Factor are you already working on with your child and what's one that you struggle with is anyone interested in possibly offering their thoughts on either one or both of these questions awesome thank you yes yes yeah unfortunately I I think that we don't we don't teach that as a skill necessarily it's not in our nature um and so when I work with families that's a big thing that I work on and I find that it's common for people to try and speak for each other and say oh well
015he he or she felt this way or we did this and they they had this reaction and instead of trying to speak for someone and it may not be ill intentioned just instead of speaking for them say oh well okay we went to the pumpkin patch how did like how was that for you what was that experience like how did how did you feel did you get anxious at all was it enjoyable um you know were you hyperactive did you have a lot of energy thank you so here we have some statistics about 17% of children between ages one and six have a mental health or behavioral health condition and behavioral health conditions are also considered U mental health conditions they're both classified under um the DSM the diagnostic manual that we use to diagnose
016those conditions 27% of Youth between 12 and 17 of a mental health condition half of all lifetime cases of mental illness start before age 14 and that statistic shows how important it is um to try and recognize the warning signs if they emerge at a young age because we see at least 50% of them happen before age 14 so being able to recognize when those warning signs or those challenges are coming up and being able to explore and access the appropriate resources and supports to help your child or to help yourself or your loved one because this doesn't only apply to children and Adolescence this applies to anyone mental health can impact us all at any point in our lifetime and another thing is as a Rel reles to mental health conditions there are some
017mental health conditions that will persist throughout your lifetime and there are some mental health conditions that may just apply for a certain period of time so I like to tell the kids that I work with that because sometimes they feel like it's just going to be a lifelong challenge that they're going to have you know the rest of their life and there are some mental health conditions that if you get treatment and you recover from them may not apply later on now there are some more serious mental illnesses that would be considered lifetime um but these conditions or diagnoses don't have to stick with you throughout the entirety of your life two times of high schoolers with depression are more likely to drop out 177% of high schoolers actively consider suicide and we'll touch on
018suicide a little bit more throughout the presentation and then 50% of children between 5 and 18 don't receive treatment I mentioned the DSM earlier the diagnostic statistical manual for mental health conditions um that's where these different categories are outlined and how you would go through and see what someone meets criteria for in terms of a a condition or a diagnosis um but these are some of the different categories depressive disorders Eating Disorders anxiety psychotic disorders bipolar disorder and personality disorders so I mentioned a minute ago early intervention is key an early intervention and of itself is actually a protective Factor as well the earlier you're able to intervene for someone um the better rates of success in terms of recovery and making progress from that mental illness that they will have so knowing the warning
019signs reaching out and responding working with school staff or whomever your resources are in the community um in Virginia we have something called the csb the Community Services Board um I don't know if deny has their own or District 19 um some localities have their own and some localities share one office but District 19 is the local Community Services Board here for deny um and they are a public mental health mental health substance use and developmental disability agency um where you can go and access services and resources so therapy um psychiatric medication management for developmental disabilities you can be assessed for waivers and things of that sort um so again not only just School staff but what resources do you have in the community to reach out to Nami we are a great resource um
020Nami does provide free resources and programs to the community um we have different classes that you can take uh there's one called family to family so if you're a family member of someone who struggles with mental health condition Peter Pier if you are someone who struggles or has lived experience with mental illness um ending the silence we have other presentation program programs and these are all free to the community which goes on to four provide resources and support So in talking about warning signs these are some of the areas that you want to be thinking about intensity duration and distress level how severe are the symptoms how long do they last how often are they happening in terms of frequency and then distress level how much do they impact impair daily functioning um in that
021daily functioning you're looking at all facets of Life how does it impact the youth in the home how does it impact at them at school in the community if they do any recreational activities so you want to look at those different environments and in someone's functioning in one environment may be very different to the to the other environment so we're going to learn more about um the terms typical versus atypical for younger children these are some examples of some early warning signs that you may see with them frequent [Music] Tantrums um or intensely irritable the majority of the time that's a big one um as a social worker in the work that I do we say that behavior is communication and that I mean it doesn't apply just for children it applies for adults too
022but as you're growing up you may not have the development yet or all the vocabulary or cognitive skills to be able to articulate what you're feeling and what you're experiencing and so those feelings and emotions come out through behaviors or acting out behaviors quote unquote um and so kids that are having frequent Tantrums that are getting frustrated very easily um that may not be able to follow directions um could be could be it and again this is all it could be I'm not saying oh the first sign of a tantrum your child has a mental health condition but these are just different things to think about talking about fears worries or if they're having nightmares um physical symptoms so headaches stomach aches different gastro issues um that children may be having can't sit quietly constant
023motion sleeping too much or too little not interested in playing with other children are having difficulty socializing struggling academically repeating actions many times and that one's also to the point where it's starting to impact again that daily functioning so if you're having to check the lights to make sure they're all out for 30 minutes or an hour and that's making your child late to school every day that's a demonstration of it impacting their daily functioning and then wanting talking about wanting to hurt themselves or others for older children so it splits it up into the two different environments at home seeming sad hopeless empty unhealthy sleeping patterns sleeping too much or too little lies in making up stories highly reactive to rejection or criticism that's something I see a lot is um the the adolescence
024I work with being very sensitive to um feeling like everything is their fault a lot of internal Iz blame low self-worth unexpectedly rude or Snappy that goes to that irritability one irritability is often times a symptom um of depression or even ADHD and we may not think that because irritability is that outward emotion that we see but there's often times other feelings and emotions underneath it isolating self talking or joking about dying signs of self harm and then at school missing or skipping classes academic performance declines disorganization patterns of perfectionism trouble focusing very responds very emotionally to grades thoughts of violence and makes up excuses for social activities is six he's been complaining that her stomach is aching and she's all and she's always been a picky eater but now she barely is eating enough
025this has been going on for about a week ever since you came back from a close family funeral is this normal behavior or could Naomi be dealing with a mental health condition would anyone like to try and answer she could be absolutely let's see what the next slide tells us is the correct answer so this is saying it's typical Behavior but you're right I mean it it could be either way and that's why it's important to seek out a mental health professional so that they can assess to determine if they feel like it's more situational given the loss that that family had or if it's something could be more chronic and could be diagnosable or could be supported through therapy or other services and it points out that it's been going on for a week
026um so again my my comment about it being chronic seeing it happening over a prolonged period of time and then how it starts to affect those different life domains Logan has been picking fights at school for the last six months he thought it was just a phase but now he started talking back to his teachers and has been disobedient during class his grades are suffering as a result is this typical or could Logan be dealing with a mental health condition ding ding ding so I think the key difference between these two examples is the period of time that it was happening over but yes you're right um looking at his the school performance and let's see what else the school performance oh and talking back his behavior changed as it relates to authority figures and
027again it says it's worth talking to a professional to see what's going on we're going to go through this next oh actually this goes through all right Kate 11 has been avoiding her friends and saying she can't participate in social social G togethers which has been going on for months now she's spending more time in her room and keeps saying she's fine this would be considered atypical behavior and it actually gives some information about those different category areas that we touched on earlier avoiding her friends and isolating herself and from her family as well so that's impacting her social life and her home life it's been going on for several months so you want to look at the duration and then the lying saying she's fine when it's clear she's not then 14 becomes argumentative
028and disrespectful to his parents and teachers when preparing for finals for the last month which leads to losing privileges that are important to him this is typical feeling stress around exam time is normal acting out in response to stress is typical and if you look at the duration intensity and distress levels they're all centered around this one event which is temporary now if this Behavior continues past that finals time frame then it may be something to look at a little bit closer you've noticed that even though Audrey's grades and class attendance have stayed the same she's changed her opinions on topics used to agree and has found a different friend group that doesn't sound like a 14-year-old what that's typical very very typical so adolescence and teens as I mean as I can remember as
029I'm sure many of you can remember we're constantly changing our opinion on things as we're taking in new information getting new experiences learning new things in school um finding a new friend grp group that's very typical and it doesn't appear that the changes are impacting Audrey's performance or other aspects of her life James has been wearing long pants and long sleeve shirts All Summer Long complaining that he's cold you've noticed that during stressful situations he disappears in his room for a while and then returns appearing calmer so before we go to the next slide I'll kind of ask this a little different is there any details in this example that would be a red flag for someone or cause concern and make you think a little bit harder yeah so his dress during the summer
030time the long pants and the sleeves during summer and then going to his room and returning appearing calmer is interesting I'm curious about that what could be happening while he's in his room so as you said wearing long pants and sleeves in warm weather may be a sign of self harm could also be self-esteem low self-esteem duration it was happening throughout the summer and it could be impacting his social life and outdoor activities Anna's experience a wide range of emotions U within the last week I'm sorry in the last week you've seen Anna experience a wide range of emotions throughout the course of a whole day from sad to angry to happy when you ask what's going on she says there's nothing but she's open to figuring it out with you um so typical behavior
031for a teenager um and it's there's actually different parameters in terms of providing different mental health diagnosis um under the age of 18 because puberty and teenage years can often mimic different signs and symptoms of mental health conditions um and the mood swings um is is one that can get a little bit tricky so that that's why um there's some mental health diagnosis that aren't recommended until someone turns 18 um so just to be mindful of that so like we talked about in the first example it was hard to tell if that child's experience was due to a mental health condition or if it was more situational because of the loss that she and her family were going through and so as we mentioned it's hard to tell the difference but um it's better to
032be on the safe side and to be cautious and to speak with your school or another professional to see if further assessment or help is needed so suicide a topic that is hard to talk about and probably not comfortable but very important for us to talk about and to provide language around this the presentation may say it later but I'll go ahead and mention it so I don't forget if you are worried that someone a child adult doesn't matter the age is considering suicide the research shows that it is okay to ask directly you should be asking directly are you you thinking about killing yourself are you thinking about suicide are you having suicidal thinking you will not plant the idea into that person's head it's better to be direct because it helps alev alleviate
033some of that stigma and lets that person know that they can talk about the hard things including suicide so ask the question directly second leading cause of death between 15 and 24 year olds twice as many girls but unfortunately more males complete suicide um another thing about language you may have heard people talk about um oh they were unsuccessful with their suicide attempt or they were successful they they died or they didn't die I try to stay away from the word successful because even if someone does die as a result of a suicide attempt that's I don't think that's something that should be celebrated or considered a success so just being mindful of language um another thing around suicide um historically how we have referred to it as someone has quote unquote committed suicide um
034there's also some change in language around that instead of saying committed saying died by Suicide and that's to take suicide kind of out of that Crim criminal Behavior language instead of saying committed like it was committed as a crime um saying they died died by Suicide again a personal preference but um just some tips that I've gotten the last few years in doing this work 19% of teens have seriously considered suicide lgbtq plus Community is at higher risk of struggling with suicidal thinking and suicide attempts the number is slightly higher for black teens that have attempted suicide in 2019 to 2020 and then we see that number for the lgbtq plus Community we touched on protective factors earlier so now we're going to look at risk factors so a risk factor this is in relation
035to Suicide a risk factor for suicide is having symptoms of a mental health condition or being diagnosed with a mental health condition previous suicide attempts family history of depression or suicide ex experiences of abuse or neglect lack of support network and struggling with gender identity or sexual identity with lack of support as we saw with the lgbtq Plus numbers being much higher for that community some of the warning signs talking about suicide or death in a way that is overly obsessive and just pre being preoccupied with those topics not in a way of oh I watched this movie and and that happened in the movie or did you hear about so and so died by Suicide just mentioning it and of itself isn't necessarily a warning sign but if someone is overly preoccupied or fixated
036on that topic talking about not wanting to be around anymore hopeless or guilty feelings that are overwhelming pulling away and isolating writing songs poems letter about suicide loss of interest in things that you love giving away treasured possessions that's a big one especially with pets um if someone appears to be re trying to rehome a pet or pets um or giving away maybe like jewelry or other sentimental items to them and risk-taking behaviors that's another um warning sign as well so risk-taking behaviors risky sexual behaviors um you know driving really fast or really erratically experimenting with substances things of that sort so what to do reach out and respond as I mentioned ask directly are you considering suicide don't leave someone by themsel and um there's now a new number for suicide for mental health
037and suicide um intervention specifically it's 988 so you can dial 911 or 988 if it's a non-life-threatening mental health crisis Express concern hey I've noticed that I've you know I've tried getting you um we've had a few parties lately and I've sent you these invites but it seems like you've been at home a lot more lately the last several weekends is everything okay what's going on is there anything you'd like to talk about or let's say it's a sibling hey lately you've been in your room a lot more than usual um you used to like to watch movies with the family out in the living room and you've been in your room room and um it seems like it's really dark in there and I saw some letters laying around in the bathroom there something
038going on that second one promising not to keep a secret is really important um especially for peers like for children peer-to peer um because you want to have that trust and confidentiality with someone but also me personally I'd rather someone be mad at me or upset with me or temporarily lose that trust with them and save their life then not say anything and something happens and they're no longer with us and then seek out the resources so again 911 Nami Suicide Hotline these are examples of how to start the conversation tell me more about how you're feeling I'm ready to listen can you help me understand I'd love to help you find a solution and if if the word solution seems a little bit too heavy maybe I'd love to just help you figure this
039out or I'd love to talk this through so the one below that don't try to fix the situation listen and give Solutions if they're open to them I don't know about y'all but sometimes I want to vent just to vent I'm not looking for a solution and then other times I am looking for a solution so sometimes offering you know like hey I have a few ideas of of things that we can do to try and help that would you like those ideas now and if someone says no Then respect that so within your school find who the point of contact is if you think your child or another child you know that goes to that school let's say your your child's friend or um anyone else who may be struggling find out who the
040point of contact is at your school um usually the school counselors are a great place to start um School social worker is another good resource um the administration in terms of the assistant principal the principal I'm sure they're really busy but um if available or if there's an an assistant principal assigned to a particular grade they can usually be a good point of contact but definitely the school counselors and the school social worker and it's okay to start with a teacher as well they may not be the person who's going to take lead on the next steps or the next action steps but they will help get you connected with the appropriate people at the school share your concerns ask about resources and also seek seek accommodations or supports in the school setting the every
041school has a process that they follow that's set by the federal government um to assess a child's needs and in the educational setting to make sure that they are set up for Success so explore what resources could be put in place either informally or formally share your concerns with the healthc Care Professionals that are involved in your child or family's life ask for referrals they might know who's in network for you also with most insurance providers you can just log on to your website or or download the app and search for healthcare providers that are in network for me I've never gone to anyone that's not in network because it would just be very expensive um and although it can be hard to find mental health clinicians that are in network um it is possible
042ask about evaluations and again that applies to the school setting as well if your child needs extra accommodations there are different testing and instruments and assessments and evaluations they can administer to determine what might be helpful and educate yourself and you're doing that already by attending this presentation to learn more working with the school staff you can connect your child to the right resources sooner so that early that earlier the better in terms of intervention that we talked about earlier to make sure that they get the help they need building your support network Through Your Health Care Professionals the school and your community and Nami Central Virginia also has a presentation program it's called hope renewed that's specific to churches in the faith community um in with the goal of also destigmatizing the topic of
043mental health within those communities um so we're trying to Target communities and off facets how how Nami Central Virginia can help you as I mentioned we have different support groups both for parent so for parents of Youth we have mental health courses we have presentations such as this we have a resource booklet that you can request there's our website Nami cva.org and I think the state is um I want to say nami.org or Nami virginia.org I'm not sure if it's spelled out so that closes out the kind of educational portion of the presentation I'm now going to share my personal experience as someone with um a mental with mental health conditions and struggles with in terms of my mental health so when I think back to when my mental health challenges started it was probably
044in elementary school I remember always being connected to the school counseling office and at the time I didn't realize that I was a youth who was identified as needing more support than other kids but hindsight's 2020 as I got older I realized that's what I was um and as I got older I continued to be a student um identified who was identified to need more support I had a parent who was struggling pretty significantly with alcoholism and our own mental health challenges um and so starting in middle school I was part of a support group for students who had a parent with substance use challenges and that continued through high school I think my first a kind of acute mental health episode per se happened in high school I remember a freshman year I was
045on the track team I was not a runner um but there was one practice in particular and I don't remember why it was very overwhelming for me but I had a pretty intense panic attack I was hyperventilating I was crying I had a lot of tightness in my chest and in my throat wrote and I remember just walking from the track back up to the high school and really struggling to make sense of it um but then my so my mental health challenges continued through high school I had a lot going on at home as I mentioned um with one of my parents and sophomore year I I moved from one household to the next so a lot of transitions um I had a a adult sibling who was also struggling with addiction pretty significantly
046my parents had divorced by that time they had a pretty unhealthy and at times violent relationship so up until high school there was a lot of different experiences going on that impacted my mental health and my well-being fast forward to college and college just exacerbated it all and really made it worse and unfortunately for colleges I feel like we don't really set students up for Success we put a lot of a lot of pressure and expectation on studying and staying up all night and high performance and being involved in all these extracurricular activities which is great to an extent but then again at what expense and for me it was at the expense of my mental health um and so I remember sophomore year I was involved in Greek life at that point I was
047in a sority I was involved in some other extracurriculars too actually not Nami Nami on campus and um was a full-time student and then I also had a part-time job as a server at a local restaurant and for anyone who's worked in the restaurant field that's just a stressor and of itself um I remember one Sunday I had worked the um after morning afternoon shift at my restaurant and I was late for my chapter meeting for my sorority so I remember probably driving too fast to get to the meeting parked sprinting through the like quad field to the building and then getting in line for my meeting and similar to that after that track practice in high school had this overwhelming feeling of panic my chest got really tight my throat felt closed off I
048started hyperventilating I started crying but the way I described the crying is not like a sadness crying like a gentle release it was like the only way my body knew how to expel all the stress and other emotions that I was experiencing at the time it was like a violent cry and I felt very alone at the time I remember going in the bathroom going in the stall and I heard some girls come in for a second and I tried to quiet myself down as much as I could because I didn't want them to know what I was experiencing but those panic attacks and anxiety attacks continued very consistently for the rest of my college career I remember being in class one time and by that point I had gotten a lot better at recognizing
049when they were coming on and I literally said to myself in my head I'm about to have a panic attack let me go to the bathroom went to the bathroom dealt with it for like 10 or 15 minutes and then came back but what what kind of life is that to live that's not sustainable That's not healthy I shouldn't have to feel the need to leave class to go deal with something like that and then to return to it um I wish I knew that I didn't at the time I put a lot of pressure on myself academically but I wish I knew at the time that I could have taken self-care and not go back to class but I didn't even think that that was an option um so through college by my senior
050year I started to see the psychiatrist on campus I was really fortunate to be able to get in with our Counseling Center so I was doing individual therapy which I had done pretty much my whole life I did it when my parents went through their divorce I had done it in High School when all those other issues were going going on so I was very familiar with it oh and by this time I was in school to be a social worker so I was going to school to do this later on um and so by my senior year I decided that medication was something I needed to bring into my own treatment plan to support my mental health and that was a really hard decision for me because I there was a lot of stigma
051even as someone who was working with nami and en encouraging dialogue about mental health I still felt very ashamed and embarrassed and angry at the fact that I needed medication or it was to the level where where I thought I needed it or felt I needed it and I I did I haven't looked back that was 10 plus years ago um and for me that moment was important because I think that was the moment of me really starting to accept what having mental health conditions meant for me um and looking at it more as a journey of recovery and less as um being ashamed of it and trying to truly erase that stigma not just talking the talk but also walking the walk and so fast forward I'm feel like I'm pretty stable in my
052recovery um I recently transitioned jobs the job I was doing for about seven or eight years really took a toll on myself and so now in this new job I didn't even know I could feel this unstressed honestly I feel really good in this new job um so it's possible to thrive um but we have to be honest with ourselves about where we are and our own experiences and build a support network around us to have those conversations I'm very fortunate that I do have supportive people in my life I have a partner who has dropped everything to come to me in the midst of a panic attack who has gone to therapy with me to learn about trauma about how my brain chemistry might be different than his um how to support me in
053those most times you know I talked about the venting versus the solution Focus you know just being a support being there in the here and now um and so I'm really fortunate to have those supports and I love being involved with nami because I love the educational part of it but I also love sharing my own story as someone who has struggled with mental health um and for me it's been primarily with anxiety and panic attacks a little BS of depression but um I'd say the anxiety and panic attacks have been the biggest issue I've struggled with and for me as I've gotten older and learn more about it it is really rooted in trauma in early childhood experiences so again that's why that early intervention is so important um and I mentioned that from
054elementary school I was identified as a student who needed that extra support and I I was thinking about this on the drive over I remember being in high school and being in those support groups with other students who had Parents with substance use issues and I may not remember all the content or the material that we learned but I remember that peer support I had with them and the support that I had with that school social worker and then with my high school counselor I actually got reconnected with her just a couple months ago on Facebook she's retired now um and I did a I was interviewed for a podcast a month a little over a month ago and I talked about my school counselor and how much of an impact she made on me
055and making sure that I was being taken care of and I learned after the fact that her and my dad were always in communication with each other so um you know that's just an example of they were trying to support me when I was a student and at that we're at the end of the presentation um if you have any questions that is the Nami Central Virginia's um phone number and email again I don't work at Nami I'm a volunteer um but they do have paid employees right now they have an interim executive director ctor her name is April and so she would likely be one of the individuals answering those emails um and yeah so thank you guys I appreciate it and thank you um Amanda are there any questions uh for Amanda this
056evening before she leaves us okay the slideshow their packets were on the table so if you did not get one of those please do so I am going to draw some tickets we have a couple door prizes this evening um and we just appreciate Amanda you're number one educating us but your transparency with your story thank you so much I know that takes a lot of courage to do that also on the table was our resource guide um for deny County Public Schools which Miss pal with our social workers put together so that resource guide has resources on Mental Health on substance use on a lot of different things that be helpful helpful to you um so if you would like one of those um please let me know but if you have a ticket
057this evening we have three prizes and I'm going to start with the bag from Sweet Frog we appreciate them donating there's some goodies in the bag so 371 848 yes it's you I come get your prize thank you P okay all right we have from um Amazon has donated a drawer organizer for your kitchen drawer so 371 anybody okay I'll go again you got it and then last and for me the favorite some free um meals at Chick-fil-A all right so 371 853 oh wonderful all right so again we just appreciate you coming out this evening our next Family University will be in January and it will be about communicating with your child so please spread the news we would love to have more people come out and we hope uh that you have a
058great evening thank you