Last week, speaking to over 500 high school students at Oxbridge Academy, mental health advocate Ross Szabo emphasized the healing power of sharing our stories. After speaking about the struggles he went through as a teen, he closed his talk by urging the students to embrace the power they have to change the conversation, saying, “It takes more strength to talk about it than it does to hide it.” Our power is in our words and our actions; it’s in the openness and respect we bring to talking about these issues, and in our willingness to get out there and do something to create positive change.
It takes courage to speak openly about mental health when there’s so much pressure to deny or hide it. Just a few weeks ago I was reminded how difficult it is to be authentic in the culture of silence around this topic when my friend’s husband died from suicide. As I was involved in notifying people with another friend, I was struck by her concern over whether to tell people that it had been a suicide. Strangely, I found myself affected by her uncertainty and I fell into the “hush hush” patterns that, as a mental health advocate, I so often speak out against, and which I know perpetuate harmful secrecy. With this experience fresh in my mind, I’m particularly inspired by and grateful for two individuals who have exemplified the power of voice and the power of action.
Ricki Lake has embraced her power to create change by speaking publicly about these issues. I honored her recently for her candor in sharing that her ex-husband lived with bipolar disorder, and last week she took this conversation one step further by sharing that his death was a suicide. Denying and hiding suicide is a trap that none of us is immune to falling into; it’s ingrained in us to feel uncomfortable about it. But with an estimated one million people per year dying from suicide worldwide, we can’t afford to be silent. In Ricki’s openness, we see a commitment to helping others: “I have to spread the word about recognizing this disorder and getting treatment as soon as possible,” she said. This is courage in action, and it’s all of our responsibility to shine the light on it. In doing so, we create a powerful ripple effect that can truly save lives.
By sharing publicly, and honoring her ex-husband with so much love and respect on social media, Ricki is bringing this all-too-common tragedy out of the shadows and into the light and taking us one step further in creating a culture of acceptance.
We can also embrace our power by taking action. I was deeply inspired by one teenage boy in particular, who is transforming his grief into good. After losing a friend to suicide, Harrison decided to take action, starting a nonprofit for veteran mental health. I met him on Veteran’s Day and he told me about his strategic plan, then, last week I spoke with him about prevention. He says he chose the veteran community because it’s one that is particularly vulnerable, and one in which he believes his efforts could have a major impact. I’m inspired by his activism, as well as the openness with which he shares his story, and his clear understanding of the power of speaking out.
As Harrison says in the video, it shouldn’t take a tragedy to incite people to focus on mental health. By emphasizing prevention, particularly through increasing mental health awareness on campuses, we can create a generation of informed, compassionate individuals like Harrison. They are the key to building a future in which no one has to hide or feel isolated, where we talk about and treat mental health just as we do physical health, and where we acknowledge and accept each other with compassion.
But it’s not just young people -- we’re all called to action. As parents we can encourage conversation with our kids and advocate for mental wellness programs in schools. School administrators can promote a culture of acceptance and awareness. We can listen to friends in need, and use respectful language when speaking about brain health. Lawmakers are called to collaborate in the service of creating positive change, and to stand their ground for healthcare equality. Every one of us can help others by being honest and open. Finally, we can all do this now. We’d do well to emulate the urgency with which Ricki Lake and Harrison are taking on this cause -- as Harrison told us back in January, with wisdom far beyond his sixteen years, “now more than ever, we need to pick up the pace.”