(soft piano music) - Welcome, and thank you for joining us.

I'm Dr. Rhonda Herb.

Today, we watched Ken Burns Presents Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness with a live studio audience.

Our goal now is to facilitate an open conversation about the issues surrounding mental illness, especially in our children.

These issues are extraordinary complex.

The risk factors are daunting, the economics are bewildering, and the politics often contentious.

Public policy, research, and education can all help, but the most important step, and often the most difficult one, is to start talking about the issue.

To that end, Valley PBS has invited a panel of clinical professionals to discuss and to help us begin to destigmatize mental illness.

(soft music) Today's panel includes Dr. Matthew Tatum, clinical psychologist and CEO with Ascend Behavioral Health.

Christina Valdez-Roup, executive director of NAMI.

Dr. Jason Christopherson, clinical director of Ascend Behavioral Health.

Julia Garcia, supervising mental health clinician with Madera County Behavioral Health.

Jason Williams, executive director of Brain Wise Solutions.

Lesby Castro-Flores, division manager with the County of Fresno.

So let's move into discussion about how our community's being impacted, because it's possible there are people who are going, well I'm not a parent of children anymore, this isn't an issue I have to deal with.

We know that it is impacting us in multiple ways, and maybe Christina, you could start off for us.

- Yeah, it really does.

And you know, raising awareness and reducing stigma is everyone's responsibility.

So learning about what your community has to offer, speaking up and advocating for change in positive direction is important.

What can we be doing to contribute to programs that need support?

Whether that's from a lived experience, volunteer perspective, maybe it is a financial contribution, some philanthropic effort that you can provide to a resource that's needed and used in the community.

But really, taking an active role in learning the resources that exist.

I often say if you don't have your own children that are experiencing mental health challenges now, that's fantastic and great.

What about your grandchildren?

Great-grandchildren?

What about you, as you age?

Because mental health challenges can present themselves at any given time.

So it can impact us.

People ask, what is the face of mental illness?

And I tell them, please go look in the mirror.

Because it is you.

It's me.

It's all of us.

We can be impacted, more severely than others at times, and that's, I think that's one of the first steps to taking an active role, whether you feel it's impacted directly in your home or not right now.

- Thank you.

- And I think Christina's so right on.

My belief is that I think we need to get our churches involved, like education.

Where do people congregate the most once a week?

Church.

And my belief is I think we can get a lot of education about mental illness, the mental health of your church community, the mental health of your just community, needs to come from someplace.

Why don't we start talking at church?

If we're talking about our spiritual health, why don't we talk about our mental health in church?

And I think if we make it okay to talk about, there just might be somebody who stands up and says today I need help.

- [Rhonda] Thank you.

- If I may also add, that if I don't have children, and I don't have any mental health things right now, I'm still paying taxes.

And if the number one place that people go in an emergency is the emergency department, then my taxes are going to fund their care.

So it does impact those of us that don't necessarily have children or have someone that's currently impacted by mental health, but I think what you also see in the film is that it impacts all of us.

And literally everyone in that auditorium raised their hand and said that it either impacts me, or it impacts someone I know.

It was very powerful.

And I would love for more, I hope more kids are gonna get to see this, because if we had all the kids at the school today raise their hand, who is this impacting?

It's either impacting them, or it's impacting someone they know.

Everyone is being impacted by this.

And if you're not directly impacted, your pocket book is being impacted, because you're paying higher insurance premiums each year, because someone has to pay for the services that extreme cases do need.

- It's important to understand also that communities that are more mentally healthy will also be more healthy in general.

There's been multiple studies that have found that medical costs over the lifespan for individuals who are effectively treated for mental health conditions are much lower than those who are not.

Many medical conditions are exacerbated by mental health problems.

Diabetes, chronic conditions, heart problems.

One of the biggest risk factors for heart attacks and strokes is stress.

And so when we treat mental health problems, when we treat mental illness, then our communities become healthier over time, and medical care and healthcare cost less over time.

And so when we start as early as possible, you know I'm a child specialist, so I've always really been working with children and teenagers, and so starting as early as possible will get that best benefit in the long run, because you'll have healthier people medically.

There's been studies that have connected your first 18 months of life to how susceptible you are to colds and flues in your 60s.

And so managing mental illnesses young and early, and with early intervention, are gonna be really very, very important in the long run, on a community level, because that community will be in general healthier.

- Thank you.

Okay.

I'd like to go around the room now, and maybe we can start with you, Julia, and ask everybody to offer one, just nice, round piece of advice for people who are watching, and might be going, it's a lot of information, I'm still struggling, I'm not sure what to do first.

What advice would you offer somebody, Julia?

- I think my first thing is if somebody's struggling, or oh I watched this film, is call somebody.

Talk to somebody.

Say I think I need to talk about something, but I'm not sure what.

That's okay.

That starts the conversation.

You know, I'm not sure how I feel about this, and just say that to somebody.

- I thought this scene of the young girl who was working on the beach, she didn't know how to talk to her therapist, therapist brought her something to do, something physical, and that allowed her to start progressing into a conversation.

- That's right.

Starts with something, by doing something, and all of a sudden, the brain gets relaxed, and wants to say something.

- Thank you.

- I think for parents, unconditional love and acceptance of your children, who they are as they are, just opens up that safety, for me to say I'm not okay.

Because so often, we have structures in place, and we want our kids to be the best of the best, and that's really healthy, until it's not healthy.

So loving our children unconditionally, and giving that safe space in a relationship, for things to arise, and do things with kids.

And play is how kids learn, from the earliest moments of their lives.

Play with your kids, sing with them, talk to them.

Those are going to shape their brains so that later on they have fewer of these mental health difficulties.

So just love people, and talk, and do things together.

That's so easy, and it doesn't cost money to do things with kids.

- I always say to the parents that they are voices of their children.

Children are not able to express how they feel, and what they think sometimes, most of the time but parents should be their voices in reaching out for services, when they feel the need, or they see that something is not right in their behavior.

So they are the biggest advocates for their children.

So I will say that to the parents.

They need to advocate for them and be their voices.

And for the children who are going through something, I want to say to them that there is hope.

There is hope for a better life.

There is hope for a better future.

There is hope for you.

It doesn't matter what you're going through.

There is hope.

And they can seek in the smallest of things, whatever that is, reach out to that.

Hang onto it.

And grab that hope, and don't let it go.

- [Rhonda] Thank you.

- I would say don't give up.

Right now, our mental health system is super taxed.

Extremely taxed.

Wait lists are months long to get into a psychiatrist, months long to get into therapists.

Our mental health system is extremely confusing.

I don't know whether to call the county, I don't know whether to call my own insurance company.

I don't know where to start.

And you sometimes call dozens of providers, and no, we don't take that insurance.

No, we don't see that, eating disorder.

Nope, we don't see this age range.

So don't stop.

There is a provider out there that can help you.

There is somebody that can give you the hope and the help that you need.

So don't stop making those phone calls until you find the right place for you.

- To the parents, I would remind them that it is not their fault.

Mental illnesses are not anyone's fault, and they're nothing to be ashamed of.

They're common and treatable.

And as Dr. Tatum said, don't give up.

Reach out and keep making those calls, because there is someone that's going to answer the phone, and give the time, and the information needed.

And to care for themselves.

Parents, please care for yourselves.

Everyone's watching around you.

And you deserve to have a healthy quality of life as well.

And to the youth, recovery is possible.

I remember when I had my darker days, and I really related to the stories in the film we watched.

But recovery's possible.

I was connected to the right help.

And it took a while, but it got there, and I'm healthy, I have that healthy space, I have safe space.

So it is possible.

You've heard hold on to hope, and lean on someone, because you do matter, and you deserve that.

- I would piggyback off what you said to the parents, and I would just add that they're doing better than they think they are.

Every parent is gonna be their own worst critic, and their own worst enemy.

But to youth I would say it's okay to turn off the screen and get a life sometimes.

- Okay, thank you.

So we've been doing a lot of talking here, but we do have a studio audience, and I know they have got some questions for us, so we're gonna take a few moments now and give them an opportunity to speak up and share what's on their hearts.

- Like it was highlighted, the biggest frustration was access.

Going through the list, and just trying to find someone, and even once you do, you have these wait lists, right?

Once you get through all of that, is oh, now it's no longer private paid, I mean, it's no longer insurance, taking insurance, but they're private pay.

So how do you, how does one family, even if it's, they're comfortable or whatnot, how do we continue treatments for our child, or our children's, our friends, or whatever, when there's no access, and the cost of it?

- [Rhonda] Thank you.

- Traditionally in this town, for how large it is, has been terrible.

And it's still not great.

And then when you start talking about payment for services, whether it's private pay or insurance or going through the county, it's not easy to navigate treatment.

So we started a foundation.

We have a nonprofit that provides free treatment for anybody, primarily those that don't have insurance, and don't have resources to be able to pay for those services, because it's devastating to watch patients or families go without care because they don't have the funds the pay for treatment.

So the Sierra Meadows Foundation has a counseling center named after my grandma, Birdie Lou, and they use trainees, is how we're able to do it.

Trainees in town have to get supervision providing services in order to work towards getting licensed.

And so in order to provide care at no cost, we use trainees from local schools.

As we talked about the community and the gaps and the disparities in this community, we don't have enough schools.

We don't have enough masters and doctoral level programs in Fresno in order to keep therapists here in town, and so as providers, we're tasked with trying to bring people in from outside of Fresno, which, with this 105 degree heat, it's a difficult thing to do.

And so yeah, so there are other nonprofits around that are doing some of the same work that we are, and so sometimes when you run out of resources with the county or with your private insurance, look for some of those nonprofits that are providing services at no cost.

- And I'll add a bit of testimony to using services with trainees.

Because sometimes families will say oh, that's a trainee.

Are they equipped to help my loved one or myself?

I accessed services from trainees, through one of the local programs, working for a small nonprofit, not having a lot of additional funds to pour into that, and limited insurance resources.

I have extensive trauma in my history, some really unhealthy coping choices, and experiences with crisis, and those resources that I accessed through a trainee are why I'm in a healthier place, and found my recovery.

They are equally as effective as individuals who do have the extensive letters after their name.

So it doesn't take away if you don't access someone at that level of credential when they're not available.

Our trainees in our community are amazing, because the programs that have the trainees in them are amazing and wonderful.

So I offer that testimony to you, so that you understand they're valuable, very, very valuable.

- Thank you.

Anybody else from the audience?

Thank you, sir.

- I have three comments on the title, Hiding in Plain Sight.

My oldest brother, who's now deceased, was seriously schizophrenic, mentally ill.

Without medication, as an adult, he was a danger to society.

When he was a youth, he was brilliant, well-liked, a leader, and when he was in high school, the basketball coach told my father there's something wrong with him.

For my father, and it was a parental reaction that was no doubt common, said to himself, no there's something wrong with this coach.

My son is doing fantastic.

And he went on through high school with habits like staying up all night to do his schoolwork, and other peculiarities, which I was seven years younger, and we thought just eccentric.

He was admitted to Stanford.

And when he was about 21 though, in the classic case of severe young adult onset of disabling schizophrenia, he went awol from his National Guard two week duty.

Eventually, he nearly burned down an apartment complex and was arrested and then brought into the system.

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges to those who are not severely mentally ill as my brother was, how can we challenge them so that they can get out of this feeling of uselessness and boredom, which can lead to suicide in a person who isn't sick enough to have that happen, but feels hopeless?

- Thank you sir.

Appreciate that.

Jason, would you feel comfortable trying to jump in?

From a preventative standpoint, do you have anything to offer?

- Oh gosh.

- This issue of offering stimulation, and probably to do more prevention early on.

- Yeah, I think my statement about playing with kids, and helping them embrace play, and maybe it's not for any particular goal or reason, other than to just play.

Now, I used to spend hours with my parents playing with Legos, and maybe at the end of the day, maybe we didn't actually have anything to show for it.

But it was the process, and the fact that I can remember my parents and I having a pile of Legos, regardless of what we built.

But it was the process and the engagement of my parents, and I think that's the other thing, is again, when we have parents that are working three jobs just to have food on the table, and then we're shocked by what their kids are doing on their phones and not interacting with other kids, why are we surprised by that, when they didn't earn that very early on?

So we have to do something to get parents support to stay with their kids for those formative years of their lives, zero to two.

And we have to change, I couldn't help but think of Bernie Sanders and socialized medicine for this country.

I couldn't help but think of other countries that have paid leave for parents so they can spend time with their kids, mothers and fathers alike.

We do certain things in this country, and we continue to vote for certain policies that are leading to some of these problems, yet we continue to not change things that could be changed.

I don't want to jump into politics too far, but as you say, write your local legislators.

Is the Fresno County board of supervisors here?

Talking and watching this conversation?

Because those are the gentlemen, the gentlemen, that are making those decisions for our community.

And I won't go into their various ethnicities, because it wouldn't take too long.

Anyway, I didn't want to get political, but those are the kinds of things that we have to change, and it starts in the home, but if we don't allow people and parents space to spend time in the home, because they have to go to work, what are we showing our kids?

If all they value is a job and work, that's a great value to have to a certain extent.

And because we've all seen people that work themselves to death, and then on their deathbed they say I wish I would have spent more time with my kids and my family.

So which is it in America?

Do we want individuals to rise up and be the best person, or do we want all of us to rise up and be the best people?

I think is a conversation we have to start having.

- And I think Jason's so correct.

It really doesn't matter whether you have money or not.

I've seen parents who have literally organized their kid's life in a day, and will tell you, I'm doing all these things for my kids.

Soccer practice, music program, all the, everything.

Their kids are scheduled.

And yet, they couldn't describe to me the strengths of their child.

So to me, the disparities are there full spectrum.

You can take your kid for a walk, spend time with him, and look at birds, and look at things around.

Open your kid's eyes up to the things around them.

Play is so critical to how our brains learn, that play can be in just about anything, not just in Legos, but oh gosh, we have Legos galore in our house, but it's in going outside and maybe pitching a tent in the backyard.

It's getting a book at the library on birds, in San Joaquin Valley, hello?

There's a lot of birds.

It's having a hummingbird feeder, and then watching the hummingbird, and looking at the bird book, and say what kind of hummingbird that is, or having a bird feeder and doing the same thing.

It's engagement.

It's engagement.

That one on one social engagement is so critical to our mental health.

Not just for kids, but for adults as well.

For adults as well.

And I appreciate you sharing your story.

- I think that one thing that I would add is that it's important to teach children that they can do hard things.

And then it's important to teach parents that you have to let your children struggle, and you have to not save them from doing hard things, and from failing sometimes, and being there to support them when they do.

But to teach them you can do hard things.

You can be successful.

And sometimes success is failing, and then keep going.

And they can do hard things.

Your children will surprise you, and you will surprise yourself when you just let them struggle and suffer along, and you'll be amazed at what your children can show you that they can actually do.

- Yeah, we had a saying in our house, my kid would say like, why do I have to do this?

This is so hard?

I'd say because when you grow up, I want you to hang out with cool people.

(all laughing) So that was like, and now they hang out with cool people, so.

- I'd like to just add a couple of comments.

That, thank you for sharing, and advocating, despite the fact that your brother isn't here to advocate for himself.

And you're not just advocating for those living with serious mental illness, you're also advocating for our youth, and a better future for them.

So I thank you for that.

Yes, we do need to see change in various levels of care for those that are the seriously mentally ill that need higher level of care in a safe place where there's progress made for them so they can find recovery as well.

And yes, it's a smaller population, but a very vulnerable population that often is left in the streets, homeless, in a revolving door process.

Families feel lost, and they feel inadequate to be able to provide that level of care.

We do need those resources available, and we need our voices to be lifted up to be able to make change happen.

That's that advocacy component that I talk about from a bigger perspective.

And for those youth that are looking for future, what do I do, where do I belong?

I applaud Fresno County Superintendent of Schools and the work that's done across our schools with CTE programs.

I'm involved in them, originally to ensure that behavioral health careers, mental health careers, were part of the health career pathway, but then the effort became much bigger than that.

Youth have an opportunity to get involved in various ways, to find spaces that they'll fit, and that's outside of a traditional path I think we, except for our kids, sometimes we do that as parents.

Go to school, finish, go onto the next level of school, finish, and then maybe another level of school, and then find your career.

Well maybe it looks different for our kids, and we need to be open to that.

And I am grateful that there are opportunities for youth to explore within Fresno County schools, various programs.

Some schools are just barely getting involved in that.

Fresno Unified has been deeply involved in that for an extended period of time, and many new opportunities have been created in that.

As someone in the community, one way you can give is get involved in your CTE programs within your school districts as an industry partner.

That's a great way to get back to youth.

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

- Thank you so much for watching everybody today.

I hope that you are able to take away some wisdom and knowledge from our great panelists who came down, gave up a big portion of their day to share expertise, knowledge, training, experience with all of us.

I wanna thank our studio audience.

You also came down and sat here, shared some very personal stories about issues that you were familiar with, and everyone watching, we know that this is a universal problem, and we are so glad to have started the conversation.

Keep it going.

Thank you.

(soft music)