- This past May, we brought high school students from across the state to our Hope Giver studio in downtown Atlanta to discuss mental health.

If you're a parent or an educator, I promise this will be the most important hour of your life.

Join us for this special episode of Hope Givers.

(upbeat music) (lively music) - My name is Isabella.

- My name is Kennedy Owebo.

- My name is Barielle Dickerson, but my friends and my family call me Ellie.

- Katherine.

I go by Kate.

- Tobias, I have no nickname.

- Abby Dickens, and my nickname is Rooster.

- Kennedy, for some people is a mouthful, and it's pretty easy to misspell.

- My parents call me Bells, but I go by Isabella.

- Katherine is like, when I wear dresses, so considering I'm not wearing a dress, just call me Kate.

- When I was born, my hair stuck up like a rooster's does, so the nickname has stuck.

- My friends call me, no wait I messed it up.

(laughing) (lively music) - All right.

This is gonna be such a cool hour, because we actually get a chance to talk to you, the people who are the most important right now, going through a pandemic.

I probably experienced more when I was in high school than you did in your high school career, just because I didn't go through a pandemic.

Do you feel like you were given an unfair card with the pandemic?

Or did you feel like you were able to pivot, and do things that others wouldn't have often done, or what?

- I think it could go both ways.

With it being good, like, you get to find yourself, and you get to know who you really are when you're not around others, but the bad thing is that you're not around others, and so, you don't have anyone to talk to.

You don't have that communication with others besides your family, and sometimes you just need to escape your family.

- Some times yeah, sometimes you don't want to hear their advice.

You need someone else's advice.

- We can all relate to that.

- Yes.

(all laughing) - No, we had this huge expectation and everything, and I'm like, where was the time for me to, you know, have, make memories with my siblings and my friends, and for me, I still again, had to continue working through the pandemic.

I was an essential worker.

Well, as essential as fast food can be.

(all laughing) - I think in addition to struggling with time, being a senior as well, I've also struggled a lot with how different this year has been as far as being back in school, and the things that are normal about school years, like going to football games, or having school dances, or even being able to do group work in class, those interactions, and those events are some of the best memories I've had in the previous years, and not getting to have that senior year was a little bit of a bummer, and hard to deal with.

- Got a question for you.

Actually, I just have a statement, and you tell me what you think, pros, cons, anything, social media.

- I think there's good and bad to it.

There's a lot of negativity on there, but there's also positivity to it, because there's all those nice people out there who are hyping you up, and giving you positive feedback.

- I think also in the pandemic, social media has been a way to like, connect people who could have lost touch because of the pandemic, whether it's your family or your friends, and I think like, in that case, social media is really important to like, our, how our society can be able to connect, especially as things are changing because of the pandemic.

- So it's probably connectedness?

Where otherwise, you wouldn't have it at all.

- Right.

- And we're very social people.

(all agreeing) - I mean you know, like, being stuck in there like a cave all the time, that just messes you up mentally.

- Yeah.

- When, even during like, the pandemic, if you just look at how popular like, apps become, like TikTok.

I mean, when people were shut alone in their rooms, they were finding that connection through posting funny videos, or coming up with silly ideas that would make people laugh, or yeah, get people to do challenges, that kind of stuff, just so you could see other people.

You could have something that you shared with, you know?

- It just makes you feel like you're actually a part of something, like you're not so alone.

You know, you're not all by yourself.

Other people are also in the same situation as you.

- So I hear alone a lot.

Raise your hand if you felt alone.

- (chuckles) We've all felt that way.

- Me too.

What are some things right now that you guys are going through or struggling with?

- For me, I've struggled a lot.

The whole year I did virtual school, and through that process, a lot of my friends, they went in person.

So like, dealing with the fact that I felt like I was left out of like, those friendships, it made me feel really alone, and I've had to like, work through those feelings, and know that this is not forever.

Like, this is just a temporary experience, and I'm going to make friends again.

- What are you guys like, and anybody can speak up, of like, when you are alone, or when you, you know, when you are depressed, what do you do?

Like, what, is there a strategy?

Is there a book that is out there that is, that we all need to buy right now?

Is there like, somebody that we should be listening to?

- Actually, there is a book, but it's a blank book.

It's a journal.

I started journaling my sophomore year, and that's when I really felt like I was most alone.

But getting the journal was probably that was one of the best decisions I had, I'd made that that year, because journaling has really helped me to look back, and see where my growth has been, and in what areas I feel like I've changed sort of thing.

- Completely relatable, and that's free to do.

Pen and a piece of paper, or whatever it is, it's completely free.

- I used to do journaling until I started water coloring, and I realized the flow water and the color like, started mixing them together on the paper makes me feel like, "Oh wow, I can do this all the time, all day."

- For me, I also love to journal.

It helps me really become the observer of my thoughts, rather than letting them sit inside my head.

I love to read.

It's not nerdy.

You can still enjoy reading.

- I love reading.

- I also love to meditate and exercise.

I feel like it really helps me kind of just check in with myself, and feel more balanced and stuff, right?

- You just gave us like, five self-care activities that we can use.

(all chuckling) (lively music) - Hi, my name is Jordan.

- Hi, My name is Essynce.

- And today we're gonna do some stretching.

- And yoga.

- So stretching gives off these things called endorphins.

They're chemicals that relieve stress and reduce pain, so let's stretch.

So we're gonna roll our head all the way around.

It's important to stretch before we start doing these yoga poses.

And then we're gonna roll our shoulders back.

Get that nice stretch.

- Yep.

(chuckles) - And then we're gonna roll all the way down to the floor.

Once we get there, we're just gonna rock back and forth, side to side, and then you're gonna roll up slowly.

And now we are ready for yoga.

- We're ready for yoga.

Let's do it.

My junior year of high school, I was a new kid in school.

I didn't have too many friends yet, and I had a lot of free time, so I spent that time doing yoga.

Yoga brought me peace.

It brought me some positivity, and today I'll be showing you guys some yoga poses.

So we're gonna start with the mountain pose, which looks like this.

We're going to put our big toes together, create some space between our ankles, and have our palms facing forward.

Posture, posture, posture, my mom's always telling me to sit up straight.

Here we are.

(both chuckling) So next, we're going to do a warrior pose, which looks like this.

Perfect, yes.

All right, beautiful.

Next we're gonna close us off with the tree pose.

Let's see who can hold it the longest.

It looks like this.

- All right, all right.

- On three.

One, two, three.

- All right, let's see.

See, I'm already wobbling.

(both laughing) - It's balance.

You got this.

It's all you.

- Oh!

- It's all us.

(overlapping chatter and laughter) - All right, try these yoga poses.

- Try these stretches.

- And have fun, you guys.

- Thanks for watching.

(lively music) - I think mental health is most important to me, just because of how much it connects so many people.

- It's very important, because sometimes you get lost, you get confused, and do want to give up, so it's very important to have other people focusing on it.

- Just like physical health, it's a part of everyone, and taking care of it is just as important as taking care of your body.

- Kinda like a wound, you know?

You gotta take care of your wound for it to heal.

- And when we don't have discussions around it, and when we make it more taboo, it leaves people in general to struggle with it alone.

- Right now I struggle with like, loneliness, anxiety a lot.

- I struggle the most with depression and anxiety.

- I do have a lot of problems with just stress, putting a lot of pressure on myself, because I want to succeed, and I don't want to disappoint anyone.

- A lot of times people don't understand that pressure can cause you to fall.

They just want to see the outcome of it, and you have to hold yourself together.

- We want somebody to connect with, and we want somebody behind our back if something happens, and we want to know that they're not gonna leave us if something happens.

- The statistics with the Georgia Student Health Survey, almost 40,000 students across Georgia attempted suicide.

Suicide is one of those words that we hear, you know?

It's a scary word, and we don't talk about it, and we put it under the rug, and it's like a pandemic.

It's a public health crisis.

Like, what what's going on right now in your own communities of, you know, seeing those numbers rise?

And then I wanna talk about some solutions, or some things that we can do to be a part of the solution.

- One of the biggest reasons people are scared to talk, especially at our generation, is because they don't want to disappoint anyone.

I think there's so much more pressure, like, on our generation today, and I think until society finds a way to address how to take off that pressure, while still being able to want success for this generation, it's finding a balance between the two, I think.

And I think that balance is missing, which has caused a lot of the struggles that we're facing today, or our friends are facing today, because we've yet to find a common balance between adults and students today.

- There's a disconnect between expectation and reality.

You know, we're taught that 90, A, 70, D, or even you can do get 70 points, you got 70, that's a lot, but you'd missed 30, and that's bad.

That's unacceptable, 'cause those 30 points they would define you, apparently.

A lot of those things are written down, and there is something that, you know, they're there.

They're not changing, not moving, and those are different from goals.

Goals are something that you write out for yourself that, you know, you can realistically achieve with your own means, and your own abilities, your own gifts and talents.

But these are something that's coming from somebody else, like, say it's coming from the state, from the school, from your parents, from a WhatsApp group chat, or from a Facebook post, of somebody else's child who did this, that, and it's theirs.

That's definitely not you.

That is an expectation.

That's different, may be different from your reality, and that's an expectation that outsiders have for you, that a lot of people in our generation struggle with.

You know, it's okay that, you know, you're on your own journey.

You're on your own path.

- We are way too hard on ourselves.

My friend, she's a hard worker, and I see that all the time, and then I know closed doors, she always like, she's like, she breaks down, and I always tell her, like, "You're being too hard on yourself.

You gotta let yourself relax."

- You know, I got that too, I have twin boys.

They're two years old, so they haven't gotten into the age of being in youth and teenagers yet, and I think I come from two sides of the listening, of being there as a huge advocate for you, and also on the parent side, and starting to feel what that feels like, and understanding that, you know, what you guys were talking about.

Like, I've probably got my own hopes and dreams for them, but that's not their hopes and dreams, and trying to figure out a way that my heart can lean over to your heart to say, "Okay, well, this is what I want.

This is my dream for you, but if that's not your dream, how can I pivot my dream to support your dream?"

- That's good.

- And I think part of the reason expectations seem so much higher, especially for our generation is because I think there's a lack of knowledge in adults knowing things that teenagers are dealing with, one, because it's hard for teenagers to communicate that sometimes, whether they're being scared, or it's just the whole circle effect of they're scared, 'cause they don't want to let anyone down, but then, that expect- what we've already pretty much discussed.

So I think really that first step would be just recognizing what's different today, versus what was different previously, not on the side of, well, obviously there's a lot more pressure, but why is that pressure there?

What is going on in the lives of teenagers today, versus what was going on in the lives of teenagers in our, when our parents were teenagers?

- I think a lot of people just need to continue to look at the positive side of things, and especially adults, they just, they look at the bad, and they think that we need to do better, that we need to be smarter, but we're trying our best, but it's, it's already hard enough with, you know, depression, anxiety, school, social life.

It's a whole bunch of stuff that affects us, but also the critiquing of adults, and other students, or anybody.

- We love to critique.

We're very guilty of that.

- Yeah, I think we all need to look at the positive side, and give others hope that it's gonna be okay, and that we are better than that.

(lively music) - The past year has been crazy.

COVID gave a lot of time for people to self-reflect, and some became better versions of themselves because of it, but others grew too content in their bubble, and allowed their moral compass to devolve.

(solemn music) Being extremely mixed, I've always struggled with the idea that I wasn't enough of any one race to truly express my anger with these situations, but it doesn't take firsthand experience to understand the growing concern, and take a stand against the violence.

(sad music) It's important to acknowledge the imbalance, and race-related issues in the way they're handled.

What's helped bring light to the problem is social media, and the younger generation, our generation, informing ourselves on issues beyond our personal lives.

Our voices have forced action from politicians to wedge out discrimination, and while we're far from solving the problem, with more acceptance, education, and compassion, we can start to live in a more peaceful world.

(sad music) - I am here with my friend, Cheryl and my friend Reef, and they are the mental health professionals that are gonna be talking about what- you're the mental health and wellbeing coordinator of the state of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Education, and Reef is this extraordinary doctor who travels the globe, and speaks, and does everything.

We're so lucky to have him a part of Hope Givers.

Oh my goodness.

This is a treat to be so close to you.

- You invite me, and I'll show up.

I don't care what it's for.

- So you guys just saw some of the students across the state of Georgia talk about mental health, talk about some like, stuff that's happening with them right now.

Let's debrief.

Like, what did you think?

- I feel like we underestimate, you know, kids sometimes.

And if you look at even adolescent brain development, I mean the, it's not that they're intellectually any less than adults, they're just less experienced, but that doesn't mean that you can discount their experience that they currently have.

And for me, I thought, well, what was really interesting is when they differentiated like, what it's like living now as, you know, their age, versus what it was like for all of us.

- Yeah, - You know?

And there are distinct differences, and one of the biggest differences is the stressor of technology, because, you know, we would do dumb things.

- And nobody knew.

- Nobody knew, nobody knew, and they do something that, you know, maybe it wasn't the greatest decision in the world, and the entire world can know about it.

- Yeah.

- It's an incredibly powerful force that can lead you to despair even to suicide, and these are things we didn't deal with.

- You know, something interesting that came up that I heard one of the young people say was you get judged because of what somebody else's kid down the way is doing.

So how much of it is the parents getting that positive reinforcement on social media as well for sharing, "Well, my child did this and my child did this," and it's that implicit pressure, those expectations, they were talking about.

- They said expectations a lot.

- They did, they did.

- What is that like, if we were sitting here doing a tutorial for adults, like, how do we kind of, how do we try to lessen some of these expectations for our youth?

- You know, I think it starts so young.

You know, we have expectations as the parents, and as the adults, but as was the case with my younger child, his own expectations of himself became overwhelming.

He got so caught up in the, getting the awards at school, and having the best grades and, you know, being number one in the class, or number two, or whatever, that, even though we started saying, "Back off yourself, ease up, you know?

You're, we don't expect you to be perfect.

Don't, don't do this."

He couldn't let it go by that point.

- It was like keeping up with the Joneses.

- [Cheryl] Yeah.

- He just had to continue.

- Yeah, so I think, I think, you know, whatever we can start doing to kind of level that out from a very young age that, you know, it's great that you're doing this, but you're also just a good kid, you know?

So it's not so much about the achievements, and the expectations.

- And when we look at expectations, there's parental expectations, there's teacher expectations, there are societal expectations, there's expectations that come through social media, and then the big one is there's peer expectations.

So all of those are, they're being inundated with all of these different types of expectations.

And I think as a parent, you need to understand that it's not just your expectations that are involved here.

There's a lot more expectations in the world that are hitting your kid, and they need to navigate through all of that.

So insight and awareness into what's happening with your kid from an expectations perspective is really important.

And to me, the solution to this is originality.

You're different.

You truly have your own journey in this world.

You don't have to abide by what this person's doing in their journey, or this person, or that person.

So the more that, not in a narcissistic way, but the more that you can kind of deep-soulfully know that you have an original way of being in this world will help to offset some of those expectations that we put on ourselves to be like somebody else, or dress like somebody else, or look like somebody else.

- And I think the generational thing that they talked about comes into play here, because we are really seeing it when we talk about the career education piece of the work in schools.

You know, for my generation, you expect your kids to go to college, go to college.

Well, now we have kids with a hundred thousand dollars in student loan debt, and a degree they don't want to use, but they went to college.

- Yeah.

- Yay.

- The poor kids don't have a job, but they went to college.

- So I think now we're really learning to look at, you know, what do, what does success look like?

What does that really mean?

And not, moving away from this one standard way if you do check these boxes, and you are a success, not so much, right?

Success is so individualized, and I think we're moving in that direction, but I think, I think some of us adults are a little slower to move.

- And you as a storyteller, and you talk about originality, how important is that for students to have a voice, and to be an advocate through storytelling?

- Well, all of us as human beings relate to each other through story, and so when we hear somebody just saying, "This needs to be changed, that needs to be changed," eventually we're like, okay, yeah, yeah, fine, fine, fine.

And it's just over and over again.

But when we hear a student talking about, you know, I feel like a number, and my number is 70, and what does that mean about me?

And then going through a story about that, it's so much more meaningful to us, because look, the reality is you look at a lot of private schools, which you have to pay a lot more money for, which has a socioeconomic factor, maybe they do testing in a completely different way.

Maybe they test creativity differently.

Maybe they do essays more than they do numerical scoring that could be culturally biased, or biased in other ways.

So I think the idea has been floated out there for a long, long time.

It's just who stopping the idea from becoming more universal.

- One thing that I'm gonna look right into, I don't know which camera.

I'm looking at all y'all, but one thing that I want everybody to hear and understand, we can have super high academic expectations, but if our children are not mentally healthy, and emotionally well, they are not going to learn at the full capacity they have, and they're not gonna be able to participate fully in the educational process.

So reach out to us, reach out, and let us know.

You know I'm always on the phone.

I'm always doing something.

- Always.

The biggest advocate that you have in the state of Georgia is sitting right beside me right now, without a doubt.

I want to end on this on one question.

What does hope mean to you?

- Hope is an energy.

It's envisioning a future.

I mean, I'm a physician, had an academic career, and then I ran a treatment center, and I learned so much during that process about there's so much more to mental health than just stabilization.

And to give somebody hope that you have the agency, you have the ability to craft and design a life that doesn't necessarily have pressures that don't align with who you are.

That hope, that's what healed.

Hope healed people in my mind, more than the medications did.

The medications just stabilize them.

- Anything that we can do to ease someone's pain, anything that we can do to help a young person, or a family member who is trying to help a young person, and doesn't know how to help them, whatever we can do to help educators be those trusted adults, that's hope to me.

That's hope, and using our voices, and our stories to encourage other people to have hope, that's it.

That's everything.

- [Tamlin] And that's what we did today.

- Yeah, man, - You guys are on the ground.

You're doing the work.

That is a tough, tough job, and I can't thank you enough for being here, and being a part of us, and hanging out in the loft today.

I want to tell everybody, if you need us, you got us.

The light's always on for you.

Head over to our website, resources, whatever you need, we got you.

We got your back.

We love you, and we will see you soon.

(lively music) - Most important thing to me that everyone knows is that in anything that you do stay true to who you are.

- Be yourself, and don't change for anyone, because there's someone out there that loves you for you.

- Learn how to love yourself more.

If you don't love yourself, you can't love anyone else.

So my parents always told me that one.

- There is only one you, and there is no one else who can be you, so live in your truth entirely, and without hesitation.

- No matter how hard things get, remember to never give up on yourself, and always take care of yourself before you even think to take care of others.

- Keep going.

Life is gonna have its paths, rough paths, but it's gonna all smooth out eventually, and it'll get better in the end, promise.

- Let's talk about advocacy for a second.

Like, why is it important to be an advocate, and have a voice, and to share?

We got six of you here today, very clear advocates for mental health, very clear advocates for wellness.

What is it that drew you towards being an advocate?

- For me, I think I get my big old voice from my dad.

My dad can't hush his mouth for nothing, so it came naturally.

(all laughing) - I think that's the most important part of advocacy, because there are people out there going through things that some may not know about, and maybe because they're too scared to voice their opinion, or even just tell their story, knowing, or having people like us, and other people in our communities, and in our schools that are willing to speak up because we're comfortable doing it is important to letting other voices be heard that aren't as comfortable.

- Right, and I think part of my advocacy comes from the fact that from my background, again, coming from a Nigerian household, an immigrant perspective in general, being a male, but then also having an other in so many ways in my own household, and my culture, being a part of the LGBTQ community, and then being, I guess, the first, or being the younger sibling to two sisters, those othering factors would have me silenced, but then I have the privilege, I guess, coming from patriarchal society, and then there are just certain advantages to that that I'd say basically put, gave me a seat at the table, and having a seat at the imaginary table, I have to recognize that, you know, there are people behind me who can't get there, who want to have their voices heard.

As much as they want to, they can't be there, so I have to be the one to vocalize their opinions, vocalize you know, their perspectives on certain issues.

- Oh, I want to say like, what Kennedy and Abby said, it's all about empowering young people to use their voice, because our opinions and our voices are valid in the grand scheme of things in society.

And by like, letting young people our age know that you like, your voice matters.

I think that's really what people need to hear, and you need to understand that we're not just kids.

Like we are, we're a part of this world.

We deserve to say something about it.

- Yeah, do you have, do you feel like it's important to have a trusted adult in your life, a mentor?

(all agreeing) What are some qualities of a strong, trusted adult mentor?

- I think it's important to have an adult who can give you advice when you want it, but also just listen to you when you just need to talk, and you don't really want their opinion.

- I think that's important to have someone in your life like that, and I think there's quite a few good teachers out there, and adults that we can connect really well with, but there's also adults that we just- - We just let them be.

(all laughing) - It sounds like, you know, to have a trusted adult, one of the best, strongest qualities is listening.

- Yes.

- How hard is that sometimes?

- Very, very hard.

From your perspective, is it hard?

(all laughing) - It's amazing once we start talking with each other, that we start realizing how connected we really are, and how similar our stories are.

- Let's say, we mentioned this back in the green room too, how we could be anywhere in the world right now, anywhere, and it's just by chance that we're here with each other, and we happen to relate so well, and connect so well.

- This one thing brought six totally different people together.

- Totally different.

(all laughing) - It was fate or something.

(all laughing) - I was about to say for me, this right here is hope, and the adults here are hope, because this right here, seeing students who are willing to sacrifice their own personal experiences, and be open about their stories is hope for the future, because knowing that there's others out there is what's gonna make, is what's gonna help bring light to situations where there's a bunch of darkness.

And then for the adults, there's hope knowing that there's people out there that are willing, and want to help the next generation, you know?

- It's hope that there's people out there who care about what people are going through.

That's good for those at home.

- I always say so in our loft, we've got a neon sign, and it stays on at all times, and it's talking about just leaving our light on for everybody.

No matter who you are, where you come from, like, you have a home, and it's with us, and that's what our hope is, is to have a place for each one of you to always come back to, and hang out with us in the future.

So hopefully you all will come back and hang out with us, and continue to share your stories with others, because it's so very, very important to share your stories, and to be vulnerable, and to be open, and to take risk, and to be a mentor and a support system for each other.

That is what all of this is about that we're doing, and we're growing, and we are trying to be part of the solution in keeping doors open.

So I appreciate everybody's time today.

Thank you so much for coming and hanging out with us.

It was pretty, it was pretty okay, right?

What do you think of when you hear mental health education?

(snoring) (crickets chirping) Or could you imagine a show that features interviews, self-care activities, animation, student films across America, and musical performances that will get your day going?

Join us this fall for our new uplifting series that will be a first of its kind, and aligned to use in middle schools and high schools all across America.

We created our series with you for you, so come hang out with us this season in the loft, where you will always have a voice.

On location east Atlanta, zone six, introducing the Digital Young Kings.

(hip hop music playing) - Wow, wow, wow, wow.

All right, so I got one question for you.

What does hope mean to you?

- Hope, hope is like a dream, but it also comes true in some forms.

- [Dancer] Yeah, believe, believe.

- [Dancer] And helping others.

- Faith.

- And helping others.

- And helping others.

That's what it's all about.

Thank you so much for having me here.

I appreciate it, I appreciate it, I appreciate it.

Yeah, you guys keep dancing, and we're gonna follow you on social media, Digital Young Kings, Digital Young Kings, Digital Young Kings.

- [All] What's up?

Yes sir, we are Digital Young Kings.