High school students, their mothers, and mental health professionals from the Emergence Health Network gathered Thursday for a roundtable hosted by El Paso Matters.
More than 50 people attended the event at the El Paso Community College Administrative Services Center, which ended with a Q&A with the audience. Livestream recordings are available online at elpasomatters.org/listings/events. The conversation was the first in a series of events El Paso Matters will host this year focused on a variety of topics impacting the community.
Austin High School senior Alice Crews began seeking treatment for mental illness when she was 16 years old, and said a combination of therapy, psychology and psychiatry helped her get to where she is today.
“It's just like any other type of disease,” Cruz says. “To treat it, you need to take medication or go to therapy.”
A study of 3,000 students from multiple high schools in three El Paso-area school districts found that students cope with anxiety, said Christa Wingate, director of child and youth services at Emergence Health Network. He said he wanted to learn how. The second most common response was about improving self-esteem.
Here are five highlights from the conference.
Signs my child is struggling with mental health
Gisela Lopez said she noticed a change in her daughter Alice Cruz's behavior. Mr. Cruz slept better than usual and cried. She isolated herself in her bedroom and was no longer interested in playing soccer, socializing or eating. Cruz reassured her mother that she was okay, but after she noticed that Lopez was cutting himself, she started to worry that Cruz was okay. I found out that there isn't.
“Honestly, I knew something was wrong because I love food, but I wasn't eating at all,” Cruz said. “My mother used to give me pasta and my favorite foods, but I threw them away completely.”
Cruz said her mental health did not affect her grades, but she cut off communication with her teachers and friends.
To notice these changes in your child's life, Wingate says you need to get to know them and have consistent conversations with them. This lays the foundation for having difficult conversations later on.
How to get your child to open up
Wingate said it's important for parents and caregivers to take a step back and understand that mental illness is not a direct result of their own actions.
Parents need to make sure they're in the right headspace before talking to their children about mental health issues, especially if it's a topic that feels uncomfortable or unnatural, Wingate said. Stated. When you're feeling burnt out, it can be difficult to pay attention to your child, so try to avoid having tough conversations, she said.
Wingate recommended the “LUV” approach. This means listening with intent, understanding, putting yourself in your child's shoes, and validating what they are feeling. She said she wants people to approach the conversation with an open mind, not anger, and to pause and be present for a moment.
Lopez said she made it clear to her daughter that they would work through her mental health issues together. Your child may not want to talk to you at first, so building trust is important, Cruz added.
“Being able to have difficult conversations requires building and growing trust and relationships,” said Julie Tyrrell, an Emergence Health therapist at Austin High School.
That means showing some respect for children and their stories, Tyrrell said.
Rather than demanding that the therapist talk about the child (which may seem threatening in front of the child), start by asking your teen what they are talking about in therapy. Wingate said. Parents can ask for their child's permission to be present for the first 15 minutes of treatment or have a collaborative conversation about what topics to discuss during the next family session.
Approaching children about social media use
Cruz said her use of social media has had mixed effects on her mental health.
“Seeing people travel and have the time of their lives while I cried in my room, bringing joy to me when I was sad, definitely had a big impact on me.” Cruz said.
Tyrrell said social media can be problematic for developing minds, especially because “people only post what they want to see.” This can lead to low self-esteem as teens compare themselves to others. It's difficult for young people to understand that what's on social media, through filtered photos and chosen angles, may not reflect reality, Tyrrell said.
Wingate said an unpopular idea is to limit your internet time, such as using Wi-Fi blocking apps that limit screen time. This may look like not letting your kids sleep with their tablets, cell phones, or school laptops. This will prevent you from staying up late scrolling through social media. Talk to your kids about why you want to limit their social media time, she said.
Low-cost or free mental health services available in El Paso.
“The brain is one of the most important organs we have,” Tyrrell says. “Seeking help should never be viewed negatively. It should be treated like heart disease.”
Two organizations in El Paso provide mental health services to students on campus.
Emergence Health Network, a local agency that provides mental health services, provides on-campus treatment and case management in at least 10 different schools in El Paso County. In addition to treatment, the organization provides case management and informal youth mentoring.
Project Vida, an El Paso nonprofit, provides on-campus services in at least 21 schools in El Paso and Hudspeth counties. Each mental health team at Project Vida includes a licensed professional counselor or a licensed clinical social worker who rotates between the two campuses. Although vacancies tend to fill within the first three months of the year, clinicians can accept new students midway through the year if a client finishes their treatment plan early.
At Ysleta Independent School District, students, staff and their families can receive free mental health and substance abuse treatment through Care Solace, which connects people to off-campus health care providers.
Borderland Rainbow Center provides individual therapy, group therapy, and peer support groups for LGBTQ youth and adults. You can receive individual treatment on a sliding scale depending on your income.
NAMI El Paso offers programs in English and Spanish for parents and caregivers of children and youth with diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health conditions.
Options other than treatment
While there is a shortage of counselors and therapists in El Paso, Wingate said there are other services outside of therapy that can be helpful.
Emergence Health Network provides caseworker services. Caseworkers with degrees in psychology can provide psychoeducation to both parents and children. Social workers are undervalued, she says, but they help people learn coping skills and lay the foundation for dealing with mental health issues before jumping into treatment.
