- [Announcer] Funding for this program has been provided by... (upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Olivia, welcome to Young Creators Studio!

All across our region young creators are using video, not only for social media platforms, but to tell stories that deserve to be seen and heard.

Whether they're self-taught, learning in classrooms or art programs, we're giving them the space to share their creative and informative films.

So kick back and grab a snack.

This is Young Creators Studio.

(upbeat music) - [Boy] Dear diary.

Hi, it's me again.

(soft upbeat music) I'm feeling kind of lonely.

- At the end of the day, at least we know that we're all in this together and that we're all going to come out of this together.

- [Girl] You are in no position of control.

And that is the most searing.

You thought you could control those images.

(wind blowing) - [Dylan] I used to leave my house at night because I felt like (door closing) that was the only time I had to myself to leave the problems behind.

(upbeat music) (pen scribbling) - Welcome to the Young Creators Studio.

This week we're focusing on mental health.

The challenges that came along with the pandemic, such as losing loved ones and being shut off from family and friends can be a heavy toll for many.

Experiencing these issues can be scary for people of all ages.

In today's films we'll see how teens cope with anxiety and other issues, especially during a pandemic in their daily lives.

(soft music) - [Boy] Dear diary.

Today, I got my heart completely broken by the person of my dreams.

Although I wasn't sure if they were the one or not, I decided to take matters into my own hands and move on.

I feel happier, calmer, and way more relaxed.

Maybe it's not so bad not having them around anymore.

I think this was the perfect decision to make, a big thank you to the universe.

Dear diary.

Hi, it's me again.

I'm feeling kind of lonely.

I'm not sure what to do.

I guess I'm still enjoying this feeling of loneliness, but I miss my person.

(soft music) I miss their loving presence.

They just made me feel so alive.

Now it's basically dead and I'm still stuck here.

Did I make the right decision?

Dear diary.

I'm finding it hard to sleep at night now.

I keep hearing the voices and the echoes replaying in my mind.

It's their voices at that.

I don't understand why I had to make such a fullest decision and let my emotions get the best of me.

Why am I so dumb?

Dear diary.

I'm so over this, I can't take this anymore.

What should I do?

Should I confess?

Should I tell them what I did and how it was wrong?

I don't know.

How do people handle something like this?

(static crackling) How do they get over this feeling?

I just feel like such a psycho.

I'm just over this, honestly.

I'm sick of the voices.

I'm sick of the screaming and I'm sick of pretending everything's okay, when it's not, (static crackling) It's not.

It's the truth.

Thanks for watching, goodbye.

(static crackling) (eerie music) (static crackling) (haunting muffled music) (high pitched electronic ringing) (pen scribbling) (soft music) - [Narrator] Finding a way to balance everything in our lives can be like stacking liquids in a chemistry experiment.

We work hard to find solutions, but sometimes it's not that simple.

When our emotions get the best of us, feelings like stress and anxiety can stack up.

(soft urgent music) It may feel like as soon as one problem is solved another one is pushed your way.

You may start to feel like there's no way to balance it all.

(soft urgent music) And when loneliness and depression are added into the equation, everything starts to overflow.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, call or text 1-800-273-TALK, 1-800-273-8255.

(soft urgent music) - [Narrator] Anxiety comes in many forms, each one having different or similar symptoms from the rest.

What are we to do when those anxieties become too much to handle?

What do we do if we're stuck in our house all day, seeing the same faces, hearing the same voices, waking up to the same routine every day?

Home anxiety.

The anxieties we are now facing each day, being stuck inside.

What can we do?

What anxieties are we facing?

I interviewed a couple of my peers about their experiences with anxiety in their homes, along with professionals and their advice.

Julio Salabarria is a freshmen at Community Academy of Philadelphia.

He is someone who has been affected by this mentally.

He goes over his anxieties and his fears.

- My worst experience anxiety so far would have to be, it was the other day and it was of me and one of my siblings.

We were like arguing for some reason.

And I was just like, ready to like (chuckles) I was so ready to like, lose my mind!

Like lose my mind and break everything in this house!

But I did not (laughs)!

I walked outside the house and I'm like, I'm gonna sit out here and I'm gonna relax.

And that's what I did.

And then I took a walk and I was just on the phone with my friends, just talking.

- [Narrator] An early intervention specialist, from Jewish Family and Children's Services, Chris Scanlan, works with high schoolers in the school district.

He explains what anxieties we may feel and what anxiety is.

- [Chris] One thing I could definitely see happening, that I have been seeing, is what's called separation anxiety, okay.

So typically something happens like an event, and then this causes the person, you know, some different levels of anxiety.

They start fearing the worst for their loved ones, and now that they're separated from them, they can't stand it.

There's this constant worry and the fear of losing others.

- [Narrator] As a senior attending CAPA High school, Adam Douglas, goes over the time he had left in the rest of his school year.

- As a senior, you know, you go hard, especially at CAPA.

All of those senior gatherings, events, prom, ditch days, graduation practice and all that stuff.

But I would say the biggest thing that we're missing out on is getting a chance to become, I guess, more or less friends with our teachers.

Throughout most of the year as a senior, yeah, you're learning, but then when they realize that you're moving on to bigger and better things, you begin to see each other as an equal.

And you know, you make these experiences and relationships that last a lifetime.

- [Narrator] With school closed and parents having to work at home, many are concerned about how their children will be while staying inside.

Alex Rodriguez is a parent of two girls.

He works at ERSA Court Reporters and now spends most of his time at home rather than an office.

- Of, course, there's more of a talking at the home with my kids to see how they're feeling too, emotionally.

We play games.

We read.

We keep ourselves also mentally and spiritually aware of things.

And when something comes up, we try to get the best advice and make the best of it.

- [Narrator] Rachel Levy is a suicide prevention specialist who works with Jewish Family and Children's Services.

She talks about ways teenagers can deal with anxiety.

- Everything Is so new.

So there's so much information coming at you.

So maybe try and limit or take it in small doses.

But there are also ways that we could use social media for the positive.

You can use it as a way to connect with friends or classmates.

You can see, you know, if you're doing something interesting at home, if you're doing a fun activity at home, share that with friends.

- [Narrator] Social media is a core part of every teenager's life.

Tiguida Kaba is another student from CAPA who relies heavily on social media and its uses.

- Social media has helped me with these sudden changes because I'm still able to keep up to date and keep in contact with friends, seeing how other people are doing, whether it's them posting, posting in their stories, texting them, the whole nine yards.

And just being able to like keep up to date.

- You have to keep in mind is that we're all in this together.

So even if we can't see them on a day-to-day basis, at the end of the day, at least we know that we're all in this together and that we're all going to come out of it together.

So when it is all over, expect that we will be partying, we will be socializing and seeing each other all the time.

- [Narrator] How should we feel when we are overwhelmed with isolation?

We cope, we ask for help.

We turn the negative into a positive.

We use each day as a growing moment and make those days worth it.

And at the end of the day, we will get through this together.

(pen scribbling) - [Girl] I hear your trouble and answer with an image that even you cannot understand.

Ripples of paint, pouring over portraiture and pens that puncture paper and pictures that peak interest in other layers.

You say you would like to be seen.

And I am the closest image closest, closest to what is you.

Please understand me when I plead to you with my colors bleeding through the page.

You can hide between the strokes.

No one will question me.

They may, however, interrogate you and you can say anything at all.

I can be nothing.

I can be everything, and they will believe you.

But no one will ever understand your musings though, intentionally mysterious.

You figure and I heard that we are alone.

Is that such a bad thing to stay here, inhabiting the disconnect between you and what you've made.

I am the keeper of you, outlasting your blood and tissue, all that will become of your mind.

Who will find these words and what they mean to the captor?

You are in no position of control.

And that is the most searing.

You thought you could control these images, but perception is too turbulent a force.

You stand here, divulging yourself to the world, though no one has seen your intentions.

No one was felt your emotion's, not even me.

The only pure connective tissue is the brush you use, the paint you smeared.

That is all that binds us.

And once you release me from your gaze, I suppose you wanted me to take over, but I have only seen you.

I am not you, and I never will be.

I'm just what you've left behind fragmented, that which is up for interpretation.

(soft somber music) (pen scribbling) - My name's Dylan Evans.

(air whooshing) And I am a skateboarder.

I started skateboarding around six years old.

(soft music) It was my cousin, AJ, that introduced the sport to me.

I used to go to this park called Black Diamond Skate Park in Moorestown, New Jersey and Philadelphia, PA. And it's where my life got started in skateboarding.

(soft music) It seemed as though that's where my only friends were.

No matter how much I love skateboarding, it felt like a very isolated part of my life.

It wasn't until 16, when I realized there were more significant issues being avoided in my past, (wind blowing) (door creaking open) (door closing) (wind blowing) I used to leave my house at night because I felt like that was the only time I had to myself to leave the problems behind.

Growing up, my mom was mentally abusive to my brothers and I.

She would take her problems out on us, constantly making us feel worse about ourselves.

And even though she did support my skateboarding, the things she did, led to me having depression and feeling emotions that are hard to describe.

Skateboarding helped me overcome those emotions.

I felt as though every time I stepped off that board, all those feelings would just come right back.

♪ And it goes around them all day long ♪ There were some days at the park where those emotions would never go away.

♪ Where the stairs all lead you down to dark ♪ Those days would interfere with my skating, which led to more frustrations.

♪ Where the window's our reason in life ♪ ♪ Where the rooms are a collection ♪ But those are the days that really made me stronger as a person.

Now, looking back at it, I don't see myself here without skateboarding.

♪ This is a place where I go ♪ The things that have happened to me in the past, are unforgettable.

♪ This is the place that I call my home ♪ But I can't be more grateful for the person it's help create.

(car door opening) (car door closing) (trunk opening) (dramatic music) There was a point in time where everything started to change for me.

I was on a California trip and everyone out there was so supportive on helping me become a better skater.

And it just changed my perspective on everything.

In skateboarding, you're gonna fall way more than your gonna be up.

(Dylan tumbling) You're gonna fall.

You're gonna get hurt.

(Dylan groaning) And your gonna get pissed off.

Are you (beep)?

But accepting, that's how you've progress, it makes you appreciate it.

When you've been working on a trick and you've been taking the falls, but not giving up, when you finally land it, there's no better feeling.

Yeah, yeah, whoo whoo!

(group shouting and laughing together) (upbeat music) (Dylan laughing) (dramatic music) Skateboarding is my lifeline.

It's made me who I am today, and I can't be more grateful for it.

(pen scribbling) (rain falling) (phone alarm ringing) (phone alarm ringing) (phone alarm ringing) - [Girl] From the second that you're in this world, they tell you what is fair, the questions you're allowed to ask and the ones you wouldn't dare.

(soft music) Placed on the path they've paved for you, life pushes you along, without the chance to stop and think if it's right where you belong.

But beyond your pathway's edges is where living really starts.

A land of risk and danger.

A land of broken hearts.

(soft music) (whimper ringtone) (whimper ringtone) (whimper ringtone) (bell ringtone) (whimper ringtone) (whimper ringtone) (soft piano music) (whimper ringtone) (whimper ringtone) (cereal splashing) (spoon clanging) They'll tell you, you should fear this land.

That there's no good there at all.

As they live their lives, as they've been taught behind expectation's walls.

(soft music) The best people you will ever meet, have wandered off their track, found themselves along the way and have no need to wander back.

(soft music) So forget about life's roadmap.

Follow your heart at any cost.

For you'll never truly find yourself, if you're too scared to get lost.

(upbeat music) (girl making gibberish noises) (baby laughing) (soft upbeat music) (birds chirping) (baby and girl speaking gibberish and laughing together) (upbeat music) - If you or a loved one are experiencing any mental health issues, please remember to reach out to someone.

I want to thank all of our young creators for sharing their stories with us today and give a special shout out to all the teachers and instructors who inspire these young storytellers.

Thanks for watching Young Creators Studio.

To watch past episodes, head to our website.

I'm Olivia, and I'll see you next time.

(upbeat music)