Students attending The Royal’s Is It Just Me? program sat in on presentations from a youth psychologist, addiction counsellor, social worker and neuroscientist, and heard the stories of two young women living with mental illness. They all came away feeling more informed about depression and anxiety, how addictions affect mood, how to cope when depression hits — even what happens inside the depressed brain.
In his highly rated presentation, neuroscientist David Hayes used brain scans as his hook. He talked about his research studying the brain scans of various subjects, both healthy and depressed, and through the scans, showed students that a depressed or damaged brain looks different from a healthy brain. “They are actually different. We often think of neurological disorders as being different from physical disorders,” says David, “but this isn’t true. We know that the brain is functioning very differently.”
“People know intuitively that our brains are important to us, but to make the connection between why we do the things that we do and how the brain functions is really important,” he adds. “For example, on the downside, drinking four beers a day will do irreparable damage; on the upside, getting lots of exercise, and sleeping and eating well can help people cope with depression.”
Megan Bone, a psychometrist in the youth program, and her colleague Dr. Laura Nichols, a psychologist in the mood program, talked about anxiety and depression in their presentation called “Feeling Depressed or Anxious? Health Bodies for Healthy Minds.” They stressed how to recognize when one is clinically depressed or overly anxious, where to seek help and why it is important to reach out.
“The most important message we can tell teens is that mental health is very much parallel to physical health. If someone had a broken leg, we wouldn’t tell that person to walk it off. It’s important to get the quickest and best help to alleviate that pain,” says Megan.
Megan and Laura talked about the need for teens to be aware of how they’re feeling, how they can deal with stress on a day to day basis, and that they need to reach out to an adult when a friend comes to them for help.
Held for the first time this fall, Is It Just Me? was a resounding success, with presentations rated from “good” to excellent.” Both students and teachers called the sessions a terrific learning opportunity and a great way to reach out to the youth in the community. A second session is scheduled for later this winter.