(dramatic music) - We were physically isolated, we were socially isolated, we were mentally isolated.

Every aspect of our lives just became so lonely.

In the past few years, I've gone from like knowing about suicide and knowing that people do commit suicide to knowing people who have... (dramatic music continues) - I see a lot of my friends like with body image issues due to social media.

Everyone has filters and like can change the way you look.

I have a friend with an eating disorder.

- I have several family members that have mental illnesses: Bipolar, depression, anxiety, panic disorder.

I have that and we experienced a lot of not being able to get the help we necessarily need.

- We're all stuck in our individual households and every single household has a problem.

Also, it takes a toll on the people that live on the reservation.

- People they just like drink and smoke and do all that bad stuff.

They bad influence to me, the kids at school.

(relaxing music) - I think we're in a mental health crisis as a nation, honestly, right now things are very tense across generations.

- It's been increasing since COVID - As a teacher who taught through the pandemic and is experiencing a couple years after, I still feel the ripple effects.

The classroom is different.

(teenagers chattering) - Kids are under pressure, adults are under pressure.

It seems like we're almost in a pressure cooker to some extent and the pressure keeps building and building and building.

It's been a lot this year.

It's been a lot.

(relaxing music builds) - [Voiceover] Funding for this program is provided by: The Hughes Charitable Foundation, energized by love and faith and inspired by the vibrant community around us.

Hughes Charitable Foundation supports organizations that are directly helping those across the State of Wyoming who need it most.

A private donation from Jack and Carole Nunn, the John P. Ellbogen Foundation, empowering the people of Wyoming to lead healthy lives in thriving communities.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wyoming, a proud partner with Wyoming PBS and other community organizations to provide funding for education to raise awareness of the mental health crisis in Wyoming.

Reduce stigma around mental health and connect people to available care that promotes positive mental health and hopefully saves lives.

(suspenseful music) (electronic beep rings) - [Voice On PA] We are currently in a no pass experience (speaker's voice trailing off) (indistinct) or an office area... (suspenseful music sustains) - My name is Brooklyn Terrell.

I'm 16 years old and I'm a sophomore here at East High School in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

I'm from a military family.

My dad's in the Air Force.

We've been living here for the past three years now.

I definitely agree with the Cowboy Code.

I mean my grandpa was a cowboy so he like grew up on a farm.

The Cowboy Code to me is definitely just kind of how to be a good person a little bit.

It's kinda like the 10 Commandments.

Just really simple and so I really like it.

I lean on it.

The speech and debate kids, they're usually the really smart kids and they kind of got everything going on for 'em.

They do a lot of competitions.

- This is the best speech and debate team in the whole world.

It's a ragtag group of kids.

We call it the Lost and Found at East High School because there are people who already know what they're doing and people who have no idea what they're doing.

But everyone is welcome.

(relaxing music) (relaxing music continues) This team is also ranked in the top 25 out of about 3,500 schools in the country.

So this is a top 1% group of kids.

- I volunteered to lead a discussion about mental health with the speech and debate team.

I hope to learn the different things that my friends are going through 'cause even though we talk all the time, we still have things that we keep to ourselves.

So let's address the big elephant in the room.

What (chuckles) What do you wish more adults understood about us in mental health?

- I think that a lot of adults just jump to actually solving it and not really listening to what's happening.

- Yeah, sometimes I wish people would, instead of saying, "Oh, why don't you do this, or look on the bright side," or whatever," like it was more of a like, "I hear you and I understand you."

- Yeah.

- Being a teenager is hard.

- Yeah.

(team chuckles) - Yeah, it's hard.

- My name's Bobo Bronco and I'm 19 years old.

I grew up on the Wind River Indian Reservation for my whole life.

Life is hard on the Res.

I'm not gonna lie.

(suspenseful music) In school, a lot of my friends, it was more of a trend to be sad.

- Depression and suicide is probably one of the biggest things that a lot of people around here deal with, you know, teenagers.

I think it's something that definitely goes unnoticed and unattended to quite a bit.

- It's really a critical time for native youth and we're trying to give our kids tools and skills to get through this time.

- After Covid, we've seen a huge shift on the amount of kids and teenagers experiencing mental health disorders.

Especially for teenagers, teenager kids.

They need to be connected with their peers.

Social media was one of the biggest outlet that adolescent had which is good and bad.

I see more bad than good.

- Danny is an amazing outspoken person.

These are the perfect kids to be having a conversation about mental health because they are activated about it.

They approach me as a coach and they want to speak about these issues.

So these kids are people who are writing, researching, reading, they're experts.

They know more than I do about their particular topic.

- I believe we are in a mental health crisis, specially with young people, but not just with young people, with everyone.

I think our world is just suffering a lot.

There's a lot of reasons why.

- Climate change anxiety.

Like I'm in different science classes and it's always the earth is gonna die by like 2050.

Well I graduate 25, so that doesn't give my kids a lot of time.

- The lockdown at the pandemic, it made it easier for people to communicate via text or Snapchat but harder to communicate in person.

- I don't think that older people understand what it's like to grow up with social media.

Like I think it- - Yeah!

- just has such a like - And pandemic!

- Oh yeah.

- Hm mm.

- Living through the pandemic, especially with social media and all that - I think social media is definitely a double-edged sword.

- So true.

- Because on one end when you don't have anybody to talk to and nobody will take you seriously, you can research and look up what you want or like you can make new friends through online games and stuff but like also it can teach you misinformation.

- You're only seeing one part of someone's life.

- Right.

- I also think this is so pressing right now 'cause no other generation has experienced it like us and we're seeing the effects of it.

- We're pioneering it.

- Yeah, we really are.

- In the speech and debate community there was a suicide that really rocked Wyoming.

It was really hard on the community 'cause the Wyoming speech and debate community is super tight-knit.

- It's sort of surreal that like people you know that's very close to you are going through this type of stuff.

- The school year to most of the staff and most of the adults in the building at least feels very different than other school years have felt.

We're a large high school by Wyoming standards but not large by a lot of other standards.

Our enrollment varies throughout the year, but we have well over 1500 students as a solid number throughout.

- The big shocker was when we came back from Covid to being in person, we anticipated a lot of high anxiety, high depression and we didn't see that right off the bat actually, everybody was kinda euphoric.

We had this sense of they were just happy to be back to somewhat normal and then all of a sudden it just very drastically started declining.

- We have more students in acute crisis.

We have more students who are struggling with managing relationships and conflict and some of those soft skills and behaviors that support learning.

It seems like students are struggling with resilience.

They encounter some hardships and they really, it feels like they have less and less tools at their disposal to help them overcome some of those hardships.

At sophomore junior in high school, they come back from the transition and they might be acting more like a freshman.

(teenagers chattering) (suspenseful music) - We saw kids just coming out with massive anxiety, depression, a lot of disassociation.

- Those kids needed face-to-face contact.

- Kids get into situations where they're really comfortable communicating via social media apps and things like that and they don't have that same nonverbal feedback that they get in person and they lose a little bit of that ability to pick up social cues and sometimes they end up having conversations they maybe wouldn't have if they were in person because it's there's that little bit of distance, right?

Nobody's gonna punch you in the face if you say something snotty and you know, (scoffs) 'cause they can't reach through the phone.

I think it changes how kids communicate and again I mean that's when your brain's developing and you're learning how to interact with people and how to take care of yourself and if you're getting a lot of input from other people, that's cruel, it's hard to pull yourself outta that.

- I've worked with students and families with suicide attempts more than in any other year.

We've had suicide attempts here at school.

- Recently.

I had three students in my office alone that were in the hospital at one time.

Some kids, it's just referring out for counseling.

Some kids it's we're sending 'em to the ER right away for further evaluation and then they're going to a longer term treatment facility.

It's across the board.

Kids you wouldn't even expect.

Great kids with great families just struggling.

We get a lot of calls from parents going, "I don't know what to do.

My kid has changed."

(dramatic music) - So what are some things you get sick of adults talking about whenever they hear youth mental health?

- Any sentence that starts with, "Oh well back in my day..." (panelists laughing) - You guys have it so simple.

You guys have it so easy.

- The more you like scroll on social media the more you expect of yourself and it's usually just really unachievable standards.

- I follow a lot of Allstate athletes, why am I not an Allstate athlete?

Five people get that, like that's fever mature about this- - And their solution to that is to take away the phone.

Yeah.

- 'Cause that is, that is the root of the problem.

I mean, getting rid of the phone literally gets rid of their connection to everybody.

- Parenting in the current time in history is very different than parenting has ever looked before.

Everybody's just not really sure how to address these pressures.

We're in a very different time and so some of the old strategies that maybe used to work aren't as effective or aren't effective at all.

My hope is that we figure out new ways, innovative ways to address what's going on here.

- Having communication at your fingertips presents a large challenge for our students.

On top of all the other social issues you have especially at a middle school age - You have kids who are at that age where you know hormones are in play, coping skills are still being learned and your executive functioning is still forming.

We know that that doesn't form until like early twenties.

- [Mr. Morton] Students and I often have conversations about what it was like when I was in middle school and what it was like for them now or what it is like for them now.

(bright music) - We maybe didn't have that kind of access to information and so we don't know how to help our youth navigate what they're faced with.

- Kids can track your location at any moment if you allow them to.

As opposed to when I was a kid we had to be pretty creative about how we found each other.

If we were out on a Friday night, a Saturday night- - When I was in high school, we didn't even have cell phones.

I don't think I even got my first cell phone till I was almost 30.

- If things weren't going well for me at school, let's say for example if I was being bullied I could go home and get away from it.

With social media, it's on all the time.

- I can walk by a classroom before school is even starting and there will be several kids sitting in there.

No one's talking to each other, they're just on their phones.

- Yeah, there's a lot of influencers on social media.

(horse whinnies) (chuckles) There's a lot of teenagers that are misguided and social media tends to kind of come in and fill a blank.

- One of the big things I feel like is anxiety.

You could start comparing yourself.

You see all everyone's best experiences and like why don't I look like that?

I just started having like almost like panic attacks couldn't sleep for like two weeks.

- Kids can be sitting in the classrooms and just trying to mind their own business and do classwork.

Someone's taking a picture of 'em, posting it on a social media page like worst dressed or worst hair day and here this kid's just trying to do their stuff.

Sadly we're even seeing with like suicide attempts where almost they're trying to to outdo or one-up like they're getting pretty pretty outrageous in some of the attempts I think just to seek, you know, get the most attention with that.

- Why does Wyoming have the number one suicide rate throughout the United States?

- I think it's a hard place to live.

- Yes.

- With the climate, 'cause like seasonal depression, that's a thing.

I think as a state we have a mentality to be tough and don't talk about your issues.

- Bullying happens way more often than you might really think.

- I dealt with a lot of bullying 'cause people always secretly record people and post it on social media to make fun of them.

It made me feel really left out.

- A lot of our children here go to school primarily with Native Americans K through 12 or K through 8.

(children chattering) So they're the majority and then once they go to a non-Indian school they're automatically a minority and then they face all the challenges that they gotta work through.

- We just see it as funny or as a joke and the person who's receiving that hate is like really hurting.

There's so many videos, a lot of like, you know, slurs going around and I remember scrolling through Instagram and it was some people black-facing like saying the N-word and stuff and I just didn't know how to respond.

I was just shocked because like kids who are adolescents are scrolling through Instagram or and TikTok and learning this stuff and thinking it's okay.

I like kids in the locker room when when I was doing PE, they, you know, say the N word and you know like I'm the only black person in that locker room.

So and if I did say something about it and they're like, "Oh, just a joke, it's fine."

I'm like, "What do I respond to that?"

(traffic rumbling) (people chattering) (Allison speaking in Native American) (people laughing) - I'm Allison Sage, a northern Arapaho here from the Wind River reservation.

We've had generations of trauma that we go through.

- They deal with the animosity between communities, the loss of it, their identity, 'cause there's a lot of shaming on internet and that brings down the kids' self-esteem - And lack of housing, lack of, you know just basic infrastructure - Lack of job opportunities and you know activities for youth, adults even.

- [Elk] There's a lot of hopelessness there.

- Can't really trust nobody but yourself.

Whenever you feel that hurt you automatically turn to like something that could fill that pain, which is drugs and alcohol.

So that's what a lot of people do, is fill that pain with a temporary happiness.

(birds chirping) (soothing music) (soothing music sustains) I was talking about this earlier with Mr. Viney It's like the root cause of why people do drugs is not because of some like out-there theory or there's something wrong with them.

It's that they're doing it mostly to fill in a pain that or an issue that they couldn't fill in somewhere else.

- I have like a lot of family members who live in like super, super rural Wyoming, like super small towns and you know they live like over a half hour away from the nearest like grocery store or hospital and I know a lot of them have turned to like kind of substance abuse to deal with that like sense of isolation that they feel and one of them ultimately died of suicide and I think it's like a large contributing factor is just like how alone they feel and their lack of access to the resources they need.

- In Wyoming you're weak if you're depressed so you do drugs and you're weak because you're doing drugs so you hide doing drugs and people don't know what you're going through.

It's just not like you have to hide and hide and hide and hide and nobody knows who you are.

(suspenseful music building) - In Wyoming the youth that identifies Queer are still seeing families that don't understand what is going on.

We have youth that have been kicked outta their houses, which just leads to many, many issues.

The unfortunate social media we just see constant bullying and right now we're personally really trying to deal with suicide.

It's a tricky one for kids these days.

(suspenseful music continues) - It's really hard for older generations to be able to analyze and gain the perspectives of newer generations.

But I think the one thing that everyone has to do is just put in the effort.

You have to be able to put in the effort before you can go ahead and start jumping towards all these different conclusions.

Those like really small, tight-knit communities can be really beneficial for some people.

But if you are not a part of that community it makes it really hard to even like talk about it or find someone who understands you- - Because if you're not normal, you're just weird at that point.

For a lot of people you're in the lines of the unknown.

Just being able to accept that these lines are gonna be blurred.

That's a huge first step into fixing this.

- The way that we prevent suicide just across the board is by building connections.

Building communities.

(suspenseful music continues) (suspenseful music continues) (people chattering) - Mental health is a huge issue for native use because they have we have trust issues and the horses help us trust.

- There's a lot of abandonment and like people don't understand that or like adults don't understand that.

'Cause I'm still a teenager and I feel abandoned all the time.

Well I kind of was abandoned but that's where like a lot of my depression came from was abandonment.

- Bless each and every one of us in the circle.

Bless these children so they'll be safe through their school year and they'll have someone to love them and take care of 'em.

(drums beating) (traditional singing rings) - I just recently experienced depression 'cause one of my closest childhood friends died.

Yeah, and then we were just like, we're like brothers.

My mom passed away like nine like a year ago like and then my friend passed away and then a couple of my other friends passing away.

So it's like kind of hard.

(traditional music continues) - Makes me feel mad, makes me feel mad because some people have more of a privilege I'd say of having parents and having a like a home and family to go to and it's kind of hard.

It's hard knowing the fact that there's like little few people in my family left.

(hoofbeats falling) (riders encouraging) - We're not an organized 501(c)(3).

We just did it because we know how good the horses are and to us in our healing.

(horse neighs) - You're learning how to control a horse, you know, be dominant with the horse.

Kind of teaches you how to learn how to take control in your life too.

- They gotta have confidence to get on a horse and so there's a lot of teachings in there and they don't know it but they're becoming leaders themselves as they ride.

- Whenever you like take off or whatever, when you start running like you feel powerful.

- They're just like us.

They understand what we're saying and stuff.

Take care of you and you, if you take care of his own - They look at you, you look back at them you can see them that, oh no, I just trust them.

- We tell them that anybody in the circle can help you and with that we can lead off to other resources.

- I think getting kids involved in different community organizations or different school organizations is the first step but I don't think that's the only step.

One thing I've noticed in working with kids, anytime you provide structure they thrive.

And I think that's the same with social media use and cell phone use.

And I always tell parents please check out what your kid is looking at.

Having that relationship with your kid and being able to sit down and talk about these things and then develop some structure around that and some boundaries is super important.

(soothing music) - I'm really proud of education in Wyoming.

We often get people from other states that come in just for our school system.

Many schools in Wyoming have social emotional programs embedded into the curriculum, which didn't exist four years ago.

- I would always tell people about counseling that we sometimes overthink it.

It's just a conversation with somebody that's really smart and helping you work through a problem.

- We need more help.

And I think every state is saying that there's just a shortage of mental health providers.

- My family members had to go to Billings, Montana.

We've looked at places in Denver, Colorado, we've looked at treatment centers all over the country but they're just not feasible.

- Parents are calling us and they're like, "My kid needs counseling.

I've called everywhere."

It's like a four month wait list.

- One of the positive trends is an increased awareness around mental health.

A reduction in the stigma.

I'm not saying that there isn't still some stigma attached but I think the stigma is less.

- When we think about mental health, every year students get a physical for playing sports in school, we rarely have them do a mental health check.

That's half of the mind-body connection.

We adults need to model what it looks like to be vulnerable and be willing to seek out mental health resources.

- There are some days that are tough where it's hard to be optimistic, but on the whole I think I'm pretty optimistic.

It's very easy to get a kid connected to something.

Very often people will say that kids are apathetic these days and I just don't see that at all.

I think that they care very much.

They just need to get in touch with something that they feel like they can work on and do well.

We talk a lot about how adults are here to help kids but the kids are absolutely helping the adults here.

- I think listening is key.

We just need to like be be there like you don't need to say anything, just be there.

- High school kids in Wyoming are looking for a safe person to offer resources, guidance help them navigate, help them talk to their parents, their peers.

- If you're willing to admit like you need help and you're not doing too well like that's a brave thing to say 'cause it's hard.

Like people may look at you different but it's important to get it done.

- We know with teenagers, the first person they're most likely to tell when they're struggling is not an adult.

It's not a parent, it's usually a peer.

We have a text message service now called Safe to Tell.

You can text anything to this line, right?

If you know a friend that's in trouble or something's going on, grab your phone.

We know.

We know they have them.

(soothing music) - We're strong for showing who we are.

We are strong because we are talking about this.

- I don't think I would be the person I am today without the communities like Speech and Debate.

- For me, speech is somewhere I can be myself around.

- We get to be a part of a team, we get to win trophies, but what what sets it apart is we get to share what matters most to us.

And I think that aspect of it requires also that we listen and we understand the people around us and we empathize with them and become an even tighter community.

(relaxing music) (relaxing music) (relaxing music) (relaxing music) (relaxing music) (relaxing music)