The unnecessary silence

In society we have made many steps towards gender equality; however, a strong male stereotype still prevents many boys and men from coming forward about mental health issues.

There was a study done in which five females and five males were put in separate rooms, five chairs were setup in a row side by side. When tested with multiple groups females were more likely to re-arrange the chairs into a circle in order to better converse with each other. Males were more likely to sit without facing each other when talking. Men and women are different in many ways especially when it comes to dealing with our feelings.

When I present to students I often state that mental health is gender neutral. Males have body image issues just as females and atrocities like rape occur to both genders every day. However, in serious issues like rape and abuse females are far more likely to come forward and speak out.

By removing the macho stereotype boys will be more likely to come forward sooner, possibly preventing a long term abusive situation. As someone who had to find their voice in order to gain help with my past I know the struggles and concerns males have.

The first instances of abusive situations within trusted organizations like Scouts and the Catholic Church were from adult males revealing the abuse that occurred in childhood. This has now encouraged boys to break the silence and reveal many cases of abuse. It is important that we continue to encourage boys to share their emotions because no one deserves to feel down or fear a negative response because of their gender.

The double-edged sword of Mental Health

Labels, it becomes a psychiatric breakthrough when a new label can be added to a set of behaviors and emotions. Labels indicate understanding and can specify treatment for a particular issue leading to a patient successfully overcoming adversity. Although these characteristics of a label can be beneficial to clinicians what is the effect on a patient?

Let me be the first to say I am not a professional in the field of mental health. However, I have been a patient and so will examine influences labels have on patients working to overcome their issues.

Labels exist in educational development such as Dyslexia or Attention Deficit Disorder [ADD] and go as big as mental health concerns such as Anorexia, Bipolar, Borderline-Personality Disorder and Depression. All these titles exist to support Psychologists in supporting their patients through tested methods of care in order to overcome the issue

First, think about the last time someone told us "you seem sad today" or even harmful phrases like "your ugly!" "You’re stupid!" Perhaps we were having a great day, someone misread our behaviors, we now have this thought that we could be sad and influencing our behavior in the day. The same is true for the hurtful phrases they can modify our view and create a false image of what we had preconceived in our self.

Moving back to the topic of labels if a patient knew they had a learning disorder it could be possible for them to re-think what they are capable of limiting their true potential. The same is true for things like Depression and Anorexia, these labels could influence someone to believe they are more down, or more focused on their personal mood or weight then they may have been originally.

As we gain more knowledge in the field of mental health some of these labels people outside of the field have become aware of terms like depression and are replacing "you seem sad today" with “are you depressed lately?” Teens use the word anorexic in a way that could be described as bullying. Possibly magnifying a childs natural struggle over body image. Growing up I will never forget the famous words of a dying super hero's father, "with great power comes great responsibility" knowledge is the futures power, and in the field of mental health we need to ensure we use the labels of discovery responsibly and leave the labeling to those trained within the field of mental health.

Kids Help Phone: Supporting Futures

I have talked a bit lately on successful awareness strategies, and motivation of a target audience via mass messaging. With the upcoming Walk for Kids Help Phone I wanted to showcase a non-profit that has put all these practices to work for over 20 years as a national help line for Canadian kids.

Let’s head back to May 16th 1989, its noon and the phone lines just opened for the first time offering professional counseling for whatever kids wanted to talk about. Kids Help Phone didn't waste any time with Much Music airing a service announcement about their organization. Using the media giant Much Music which already maintained viewership from hundreds of thousands of kids took KHP from an unknown into a popular choice for support among kids.

In 1996 Kids Help Phone embraced the future as they launched Kidshelpphone.ca spreading their willingness to help to the online generation. In this year they also launched the Student Ambassador Program during International Youth Week, to date this program has trained over 9,000 students and continues to grow.

Within only a few years into the new millennium it was realized that to support such a vast country chapters needed to be established. These Chapters aid in awareness for KHP, seek out philanthropic donors, and organize events to both educate and fund raise. The use of chapters was so successful that the organization now has over 50! In 2002 Kidshelphone.ca launched online counseling, with the realization that it can sometimes be hard or not convenient for children to speak over the phone Kids Help Phone opened the web to allow kids to post their issues and receive detailed feedback from a counselor just like on the phone. 2002 was also the first annual Walk for Kids Help Phone held in 20 communities across Canada. The walk is now the largest fundraising event of the year serving smiles and countless hotdogs, this event brings out thousands of supports to walk so kids can talk.

Moving closer to the present the efforts behind Kids Help Phone are still working at 110%. Three years ago KHP announced the Futures Campaign, a new vision focused on updating the way Kids Help Phone reached kids. Last month we saw the new Kids Help Phone site launch, a modern sleek location modified now with both kids & teen areas to better support the different ages that access the site. Also increased was the content library a vast collection of articles and information on things from bullying, mental health, and body development.

With the explosion of social media like Facebook and Twitter it was realized to support the modern child connections would have to be made in these communities. Within the past 6 months they created a positive, informative trend on Twitter and are about to pass 1000 fans on Facebook.

Through responsible corporate sponsors, thousands of volunteers, and dedicated counselors millions of questions would go un-answered without Kids Help Phone. This fantastic group stands behind their slogan “Whatever the problem talk to us.” With the launch of the Futures Campaign it is clear Kids Help Phone will be here 24/7/365 for years to come and fully capable of helping children with any issue.

Links:

Kids Help Phone Organization
Walk for Kids Help Phone site

Pink Shirt Day

In my previous post I discussed the need to go big in order to solve global problems. In recognition of Pink Shirt Day I wanted to discuss how a simple idea has been so successful

Pink Shirt Day was started in Nova Scotia because a boy was bullied on the first day of school for wearing a pink shirt. To take a stand against bullying David Shepherd and Travis Price decided they would use a pink shirt to represent their campaign. After only a few years this symbol has become a national day of awareness. The reason for Pink Shirt Days success is first the low cost factor, as well as using students as volunteers.

Cost has always been a huge factor when designing an awareness campaign, with recent economic struggles and reduced funding to schools it is now imperative to the success of an initiative. By making Pink Shirt Day low cost it can easily be integrated into the school schedule because local schools do not have to commit funding to the cause.

However cost is only an issue on creating the campaign it is not the key influence on a successful message. Pink Shirt Days primary success comes from using possible future bullies in its operation. By getting students excited about anti-bullying messages you influence the individual not to bully another child this also influences the social circle of that student to stand behind the cause and putting an end to bullying.

As the saying goes you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. The number one reason for campaigns directed to youth failing is because more often than not they involve a speaker telling the student body what to do, how to think, and how to act. Instead we need to empower students to find their own solutions after all no one likes being told what to do. This fundamental of empowering users ensures that after the pink shirts are put away the message of anti-bullying will continue.

Global change, unified solution

I recently had the pleasure to meet the founder for Global Agents for Change a non-profit working to change the third world. What I was most intrigued by was how they were going to accomplish their goals through development of society, such as education in the 3rd world countries, and empowering the young people of our nation to come up with create ideas for change.

Taking this idea one step further I related the causes of turmoil in the 3rd world to the key causes of childhood abuse, poor education, poverty, and lack or limit of basic human needs. All these issues occur in the 3rd world just as they do in the nations we call home. What this means is we need to solve the source, break the catalyst to break the chain. In my previous post I revealed statistics of over 100,000 cases in Canada alone... The demand to solve each case individually is huge. However, investing in community programs for adult education as well as maintaining and improving the level of funding for the future generations schooling will decrease poverty and remove two of the key causes for Child Abuse.

We are quickly approaching a global population of 7 billion people; some of our issues have grown too large to solve one water pump at a time. We need to unify our efforts and attack the key reasons people suffer, invest in a community, and invest in a national school program. In the issue of abuse out of the thousands of cases reported there are still many who are too afraid to speak. By using mass messaging we improve the chances of reaching that child. I challenge my readers to raise your voice and incite change, the use of word and media is the first step to a global solution.

Child abuse, todays greatest atrocity

April is national child abuse prevention month. The statistics are overwhelming with over 200,000 cases in 2003 according to the Canadian Incidence Study. However, a stat is just that its a number, and as such it is easily forgotten. I am a survivor of abuse, a face, not a number. Well putting together the initial post on this topic a friend asked if I was affected? I replied that I wasn't, not by circumstance but by choice... if I hope to incite change I must also show strength.

National child abuse prevention month is exactly that, its change. Although abuse occurs thousands of times a year throughout all nations of the world it is rarely discussed. We often hear "children are the future," then I ask what are we doing to protect the future?

Kids Help Phone, a non-profit organization consisting of web/phone short term counseling had 2.2million contacts in 2008 from Canadian kids, 23% of those contacts were in regards to Mental Health and currently the organizations website has just under 5000 entries under the violence & abuse forum.

The current generation is filled with a great courage, they have the strength to discuss and report abuse. Throughout the month I will discuss the types of abuse and how you can raise a voice in opposition towards this heinous crime.


Resources: Kids Help Phone
CIS child abuse report(PDF)
Image: Aidan Scott