(lively music) - Hello and welcome to Generation Grid.

Our exciting new series discussing solutions to issues impacting our community through the eyes of Generation Z. I'm your host, Carrie Joy.

And tonight, we're discussing mental health and suicide prevention.

We have an amazing panel with us tonight.

Joining me in the studio tonight is Justy Robinson.

He is a multifaceted artist and content creator whose biggest life passion is to inspire the next generations into action, self-discovery and learning to connect with other people.

He is a founding member of Don't Shoot the Zine.

the writer, producer and editor for the YouTube series, Dream.

Create.

Inspire.

And he's also the producer for the Five Star News and director on the board of Creative Strategies for Change.

Thank you for being with us, Justy.

- Thank you for having me.

We also have McKenna Charles.

She's a dancer and Denver community member who has very personal experiences with the reality of suicide.

After losing someone to suicide and struggling with suicidal ideations herself.

She has learned to heal through a journey of understanding and advocating for mental health education and resources.

She was the 2021 high school valedictorian at Colorado Connections Academy.

Thanks for being here, McKenna.

And also joining us on the phone is Jenna Clincchard.

She is the executive director with a local nonprofit, Rise Against Suicide.

She has a deep understanding of the mental health challenges facing society and a true commitment to help address them, especially as they impact our youth.

What drives Jenna every day is knowing that the work rise does is helping suicidal youth find their way out of their darkness and find hope in their lives.

Thank you for being here, Jenna.

- Thanks for having me.

It's great to be here.

- So let's kick off the conversation with a quick video about what Creative Strategies for Change does.

- I am Bianca Mikahn.

I am program coordinator at Creative Strategies for Change here, and I love that the name literally encompasses what this organization does.

Tonight, Creative strategies for change is hosting what's called the Community Cypher and this series is focused on place matters.

And really, I think of it as a really smart, really fortified and well-resourced party.

- So this is about community.

Then I need the community to stand with me.

(lively music) - It's an open mic style event, so you never know exactly what's going to happen, but it's always been a perfect thing.

Some of them have been a little bit more quiet where we're kind of sitting around in a circle, reading poems.

Some of them have been very nice and loud and lots of movement and lots of new faces.

♪ Take your time, you don't wanna jump places ♪ ♪ Know this and check with us ♪ - But really trying to get all the different faces of Denver in the room to feel good and be heard.

- To see me on a wall, bound at the wrists in a museum, because someone else said pain is beauty.

- Be supportive in talking about serious stuff if that's what they need to do.

It's an open mic.

- The title of this piece is Black Children are Committing Suicide.

- But be supported in that actively and be heard and reflected.

- I'm glad that we're working on me.

I'm glad we're here together, sharing love so that we can work on me.

'Cause that's all we could do.

- And have a really fortifying good time while keeping in mind that there's a lot to be done in our community.

- Jenna, I'd like to start with you.

Can you tell us a bit about what Rise Against Suicide does?

- Sure.

Rise Against Suicide helps at-risk youth that are struggling with suicidal ideation.

We fund therapy sessions for uninsured and under-insured youth that can't afford mental health therapy.

We serve up to the age of 19 and youth find us through their schools.

80% of the youth find us through their schools.

Their school counselors will refer or their school interventionists.

We also work with we'll get physicians that call and do referrals.

We have parents that call us directly that request a suicidal risk assessment for their child and we can provide that and then connect them with one of our licensed and insured therapists.

So how our program differs a little is our youth can be seen, the referred youth can be seen within 24 to 72 hours.

'Cause we fully understand that a child can't wait.

When a child is having suicidal thoughts and they're struggling, they don't have time to wait for seven to 10 weeks to be seen by a therapist so we can connect them with a therapist immediately and get them seen.

A family will never see a bill.

Rise Against Suicide funds, all therapy sessions, a child, and again, a child and a family, I can't stress this enough, will never see a bill.

We pay our therapist directly.

We understand that mental health care needs to be accessible to all and it's not right now.

So we're here to help with that.

Right now, what we're finding is that kiddos have to wait seven to 10 weeks to be seen after an initial intake.

And that's not okay.

We can't accept that.

We have to push back.

We have to know that these kids need to be met where they're at because that's the way we're gonna save their lives.

So it's pretty simple.

We connect our youth with therapists and they get the therapy that they need and deserve.

- Thank you so much, Jenna.

So Justy, I'm gonna start with you on this question here.

Tell us a little bit about why you're involved with Creative Strategies for Change.

- All right, well, it started back in 2017.

They were doing their very first Community Cypher event.

This was a little bit different than how it is now.

This was a much more devised piece of work, like play versus a open mic event where people come and share whatever they have.

So I was here initially, not really involved, but my mother was actually facilitating the devising group.

And then one day, I just happened, she happens to pick me up from school actually.

And I got involved pretty much immediately after that because we went straight from the school to the devising meeting.

There I met some people who I've known to this day, like Andre Carbonell.

He's no longer involved with the organization, but he's still like one of my closest friends, Bianca, who is working in the organization and is one of the higher ups.

And we've always been just trying to figure out how I can get more involved in the organization.

And eventually, actually August of last year, it came up that I could be a board member.

And that ended up being the thing we did.

- Yeah, that's beautiful.

We have some dynamic organizations represented right here, so good stuff, good stuff.

So McKenna, can you tell us a little bit about your personal journey around this conversation of mental health and suicide prevention?

- Yeah.

I started recognizing that suicide was an issue at an early age, I think.

For me personally, it was really elementary school where I was hearing all the time that like this person was suicidal or hearing that this person was cutting or whatever else.

And for me, mental health wasn't like something that my family talked about at all.

So it was really interesting to experience it at school and then have no idea what people were talking about.

And then when I got older, a very close friend of mine killed themselves.

And that started to then, I had my own issues with mental health as I was trying to figure out how to access help for it.

And I recognized that it had to do with a lot of the pressure that I felt at school, but also my lack of access to people who knew about the situation or about the subject, or even if they did knew how to help me when people in the home weren't willing to help also.

So, yeah.

- Yeah, Thank you for sharing.

I appreciate that.

Justy, what about your personal journey?

This conversation?

- Well, I would say I was quite a bit older when I started thinking about these things.

Because it started for me mainly in middle school.

Before that, I was primarily homeschooled because we were really just bouncing around places.

And then eventually, we came back to Colorado.

I was going to a all black public school, THGA, Tubman Hilliard Global Academy.

And that's when, not that anyone in that particular school started to, like, I learned it from them, but being around people again after having not been for at least since third grade or something along those lines was kind of sobering.

Because I realized kind of immediately that I was not like most people and that the connections that were easy for them were not very easy for me.

And I wouldn't really discover terms like depression or anxiety until I'd gone to the boys and girls club with my friend Jabari at the time.

And he knew someone who was clinically diagnosed and I got to talk to her.

We became good friends as well.

And that's when I really started to learn about what that means and how that's coming up in myself.

So I've never actually been diagnosed with like depression.

But it's also been a thing where people who have been have said to me that they think that I am, and it's been a complicated thing.

Especially through, 'cause when I did eventually go out of middle school, I went to East High School, which was homeschooled, kind of small public school, the biggest school in the state or in the city.

So that was very, very different.

And I realized very quickly that I was kind of a social outcast, just looking for whatever connection could get.

And I actually didn't realize this.

I wasn't really referred to anyone outside of the school, but we had a in-house psychiatrists at the time who I went to see several times throughout my career in high school, just because, it wasn't even always about just the problems of school.

It was like things, something may not be all the way right at home.

I often say September 1st of 2014 was the first time I ever had my own room.

And it was like very much eating at me that that was something.

That was an example of something that everyone else just took for granted.

Something that everyone else had and a whole lot of things that I did not that also pushed me further into that outcast space.

So it would be about then that I really, really started to understand what these things mean and what these things can imply for someone who's going through them.

- Yeah, thank you for sharing that.

It's so interesting how being able to find the language around some of these conversations.

Understanding what depression is or anxiety is.

Just finding that language can change the game completely.

So that's why it's so important that we're having these conversations.

I wanted to hear from you though, McKenna, why do you think that it's vital that we're talking about mental health?

- I think part of it is the fact that I don't think we actually necessarily understand mental health or at least a lot of people who experience it don't.

So when we talk about vocabulary, a lot of people don't know they're depressed and so someone with depression explains how they're feeling.

And they're like, oh, that makes sense.

And if you know what an issue is, then you can go about solving it.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

Justy, I wanted to ask, I know that we're all artists actually in this space, right?

How do you think art can help us in this conversation?

- Well, I often say that arts are why I'm alive right now because to be going back to the whole high school thing, I was a big ROTC kid until I tried theater.

And immediately after being in my very first show at East High School, I was like, this is what I should have been doing throughout the four years that I was at school.

This gave me the opportunity for one to step into a new place, which I didn't all the way in recognize.

And this is specifically for theater.

So perhaps not all the way on to the point of the question, but theater being the art form that, I practice that to this day, was liberating in a way that I hadn't experienced before, like with anything.

And then as I started learning, I started getting back into writing 'cause I've always been a kind of storyteller kind of little kid.

As I got back into it with creative writing in high school, actually, I realized that I didn't have to keep all this inside anymore.

I had these things that I could put them into, whether it be theater or be writing.

And so I truly think whatever your artistic practice is, that could be the most liberating and powerful thing for dealing with these kinds of upsets, perhaps.

- Absolutely.

Thank you for that.

I mean, art has most definitely saved my life as well.

So I hear that completely.

This next question is gonna be for Jenna.

So Jenna, from your perspective, do you feel that mental health is discussed enough in our society and in our schools?

And I also wanted to ask, what about legislation?

Do you feel like it's being discussed enough and these conversations are being normalized in that space?

- So unfortunately, I do not think that we're having enough conversations in schools.

I don't think we're having enough conversations outside of schools.

I think we're getting better, but I think the stigma is still pretty big.

And I think there's still shame.

People put shame around mental illness for some reason.

And the truth is, I mean, approximately one in five teens struggle with their mental health.

And so, I feel like it's my job to encourage that communication.

We have to break through this stigma.

We have to let kiddos know that this is a part of who they are and it's okay to embrace our mental health.

I always say to kids, if we had a broken arm, we would talk about it and kids would talk about it and talk about how it happened.

But with our mental health, for some reason, we have unfortunately been trained to be secretive about it or not talk about it.

And we need to start treating it like our physical health as well.

And let kids have those conversations.

Let us sit at a coffee shop with someone and say, hey, I'm not feeling well.

I'm not sure what the name of this is but I'm just not feeling well.

And as Justy said, learn what depression is, learn what anxiety is.

And I'm so grateful that you're having this program and that Justy and McKenna are willing to share their journeys and you're willing to share yours because this is how we start our conversation.

I think it's still important to be willing to be vulnerable, be honest with our peers, because then, we learn that we're not alone.

Because that feeling of depression and anxiety can make us feel so alone and so scared and not want to open up to others.

And so again, I think it's just starting the conversation and you're doing that, Carrie right now, with this conversation with the four of us.

And in terms of legislation, I think a lot more needs to be done.

But I mean, I think about all the marginalized groups that aren't being served and their voices aren't being heard.

And that is the responsibility of legislation.

We did, here in Colorado, get a law passed recently that will allow for a mental health visit when you go see your doctor.

However, for uninsured or under-insured or undocumented, they may not have a doctor or a physician to go see.

So how are we serving those mental health care needs?

How are we creating more resources for our children that are struggling with mental health?

We need more therapists.

We need more places for these kids to be seen.

And so I think we can do more on the legislative side is my answer and work with our representatives.

And as nonprofits, let them know what we're seeing here in our community, because we really are the ones with boots on the ground, listening and speaking with families and learning about their mental healthcare needs.

- So much, Jenna.

Storytelling is an act of solidarity.

It allows for us to really understand that we're not alone and to tap into these spaces together so that we can thrive together.

So I know that you know as black people in this space, there's a lot of gaps when it comes to our communities having access to mental health resources.

So let's talk about mental health in black and brown youth.

What are some unique things that this community might be struggling with that we really think we must address?

And I'm gonna start with you on that, Justy.

- Well, I wanna set up two things before I can get to the answer I'm looking for.

The first thing is I truly have this, I have this hypothesis that I think most black people are suffering from very poor mental health due to various reasons throughout our history.

And if we're staying up to date with the kind of research that's coming out, we're learning things like trauma is very much even in our DNA.

So as things go on and things, we to make things better and things do get better, but not totally fixed.

I think these things remain in our DNA.

And also, there's stigmas around talking about these things.

So I truly think about every person of color or at least black person, I can speak to the experience of being black.

Every black person is suffering from some kind of mental health issue and then compounded with being a young person, being Gen Z, being in this time of self discovery, but in quite a rough time.

I mean, I think that black kids my age are suffering from a very specific kind of old mental health issue, these old mental health issues that have almost been beaten into us since we got here.

To dealing now just trying to figure out who we are.

And so the middle ground between this to me is like where we stand and where we have to live and where we have to try and navigate through everything.

But one of the things that I've had to deal with a lot recently, honestly, is just finding a point for any of it.

Just like as an example, with Elijah McClain, who I lived down the street from where he was murdered.

I was going home pretty late at night, every night from school or from the boys and girls club during high school.

That could have easily been me.

And so at times, I'm just like, what's the point?

Why even try?

'Cause it's like, even if things were to somehow get better, it's like, that can just happen to me.

- Yeah, absolutely.

It's a lot of structural changes that we need.

I appreciate your transparency with that.

McKenna, anything wanna add to that?

- I think along with, as you grow up, there's always the struggle of being like, okay, I'm black in America.

I have to work hard.

I know that I'm gonna be seen a certain way.

So I have to like mitigate my offensiveness to some people just based off of how I look.

But also I think as a kid, there's this, I was always told, don't say anything, whatever happens in the house, stays in the house.

Because if you say anything, if you feel any type of way, if it's other than happy, then you'll get snatched right out of it.

And then all of these things will happen, which, whether it's true or not, I feel like a lot of black kids have had that experience.

So you automatically feel like there's nothing you can say and that all of these things that are hidden stay hidden, which adds to it because there's no way you can escape from that.

If you can't talk about it at school, from people who are gonna judge you or you're scared of leaving your home, then how am I supposed to get help?

Where am I supposed to get help from?

Never mind the fact that you may not see people who are willing to help you that look like you.

- That's a great point.

I mean, the masks that we're forced to wear based on the intersectionality of race, of class, of immigration status.

On top of the issues with mental health.

Yeah, absolutely, put us in a position where it's like, how can we find our way out?

right?

How can we find our way out?

So thank you guys for that.

What are some things that we can do to help our peers that are struggling?

What are some advice that you might be able to give to our viewers here?

I'm gonna start with you, McKenna.

- I think if you find the people, at least one person who's gonna just listen to you and believe what you're gonna say, that helps.

And then if you hold onto that person until you can find someone who's like licensed, actually go to therapy.

I think there's a stigma around therapy that needs to disappear because you have to see a doctor to get tools, to get help.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Having someone that believes you.

Thank you for that.

What about you, Justy?

How do we help our peers?

- The biggest thing that comes up for me is just allowing ourselves to be vulnerable.

Is be honest about this.

I'm not doing well, or I need this.

I think at least, if you're able to be vulnerable with another, they open up to being vulnerable with you.

And so that builds a connection of like, we can trust each other for these moments where we might need each other.

And then one of my biggest mistakes truly, I think, was isolating myself when I was younger.

It was like, I just was accepting of it.

I've always been alone.

I'm just gonna do that.

And I think any opportunity that we can get to be seen by each other, to occupy space with each other, just as individuals, is what we need to be able to walk, to get out of this, so.

- Thank you both so much.

Thank you, Jenna, also.

This is such a beautiful conversation.

Well, that is all the time we have for tonight.

Thank you so much for watching.

We're so excited to have a series like this one, allowing young people to speak their truth and to highlight all the great work being done in our community.

You can find us here every Friday night or you can watch online at pbs12.org.

If you have a question or comment, you can reach out to us at grit@pbs12.org or you can reach to us on any of PBS 12's social media channels.

I'm Carrie Joy.

And from all of us here at PBS 12, thanks for watching and good night.

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