Filling a need: How school-based mental health programs work in Wisconsin

(Spectrum News 1/Megan Marshall)

Filling a need: How school-based mental health programs work in Wisconsin

By Megan Marshall Wisconsin

PUBLISHED 7:00 AM ET May 23, 2023

MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin school-based mental health programs are on the rise, amid the mental health crisis across the nation.

Mental Health America reported that more than 16% of kids ages 12 to 17 reported at least one major depressive episode last year.

What You Need To Know

  • Wisconsin school-based mental health programs are on the rise, amid the mental health crisis across the nation

  • In the recent the State of Mental Health in America report, Wisconsin ranked number one overall in the U.S. for mental health. It ranked number four in mental health for kids.

  • REDgen started 10 years ago after a handful of suicides in one community. The program’s goal is to help kids tackle mental health issues at schools across Milwaukee County.

  • Ramos has been a part of REDgen for a few years now. Through his time in the group, he has been able to become a leader for the school.

When compared to other states in the study, Wisconsin had fewer adults who said their mental health needs were going unmet.

More adults are seeking treatment and fewer students are being reported for emotional disturbances within their individual education program.

There is also evidence from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that kids are struggling.

It found 67% of high school students reported schoolwork as being more difficult. Abuse is another factor, with 55% reporting they’d experienced some emotional abuse in the home and 11% reporting they’d experienced physical abuse.

In the recent State of Mental Health in America report, Wisconsin ranked number one overall in the U.S. for mental health. It ranked number four in mental health for kids.

This is reflected in the many Wisconsin schools that have brought in school-based mental health programming.

(Spectrum News 1/Megan Marshall)

REDgen, which stands for “Resilience through education for a new generation,” is one of those programs. It started in 2013 and has been growing over the past few years as mental health needs increase in youth.

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Read the full article here.

Milwaukee PBS: Mental Health Awareness Month

From Milwaukee PBS: May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so we're dedicating this half hour to the mental well being of our children, teens and those who care for them. The pandemic certainly has heightened the already critical issue of mental health. We'll catch up with the now young adults who were featured in our national award-winning documentary "Kids in Crisis: You're Not Alone" and look at a new peer-to-peer mental health advocacy group at a Milwaukee high school. Plus, host Portia Young talks with the clinical director of mental and behavioral health at Children's Wisconsin hospital.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: The pandemic and virtual classes have left students feeling isolated. Here's how some learned to discuss their mental health.

Seven years after 13-year-old Abby Goldberg died by suicide in Shorewood, an organization founded in her memory has helped students around southeastern Wisconsin care for their mental health at a critical time, through the isolation of the pandemic. 

Just a year older than Goldberg was, Hasana Dickens and Faith Knox started their freshman year at Riverside University High School last fall by logging into classes from home. Without seeing their friends and teachers in person, they felt their motivation slipping. Many students saw grades slip, too — along with their mental health. 

“My mental health was a lot throughout this whole year,” Dickens said. 

Looking to understand more about their own mental health, and to help other students, Dickens and Knox joined REDgen, standing for “resilience through education for a new generation.” 

Since its North Shore beginnings in 2013, REDgen now provides mental health curriculum and activities for student groups in at least 20 middle and high schools. Some, like the Riverside group, just got started during the pandemic.

Read more at the full article by Rory Linanne here.

5 questions for psychotherapist and author Lori Gottlieb

Molly Snyder with On Milwaukee got the chance to speak with author and psychotherapist Lori Gottlieb prior to our fundraising luncheon with her on March 16th, 2020. Scroll below to read their conversation!

Lori Gottlieb speaks at the Italian Community Center on Monday, March 16.

Lori Gottlieb speaks at the Italian Community Center on Monday, March 16.

By Molly Snyder   
Senior Writer 
onmilwaukee.com
Published March 3, 2020 at 11:45 a.m.

In 2019, psychotherapist, advice columnist and best-selling author Lori Gottlieb published a unique book, "Maybe You Should Talk To Someone."

The book documents Gottlieb as both a therapist and a patient, and ranges from brutally honest to literally out-loud laughable. I still smile just thinking about the passage where, after a boyfriend breaks up with her, she is temporarily distracted by grief and accidentally wears a pajama shirt to work that reads "Na'mastay in bed."

Gottlieb will speak at a fundraising luncheon for REDgen (Resilience through EDucation for a new generation), a national organization with the mission to advocate for youth mental health and well-being. The event – which is also sponsored by Boswell Books – takes place on Monday, March 16 at the Italian Community Center. More information is available here.

If sense of purpose and a deeper connection to the people and things in our lives is a personal interest or goal, this book and this event will certainly be meaningful.

"I'm on a mission to normalize our emotional struggles," she told me in a recent interview.

Not surprisingly, all of Gottlieb's responses are extremely thoughtful. Give 'em a read here:

1. OnMilwaukee: Do you believe everyone benefits from therapy, or are there some people who just aren't cut out for it?

Lori Gottlieb: I think we all benefit from understanding ourselves better, and therapy is one way to help people see themselves more clearly. Therapy holds up a more accurate mirror to people so that they can see their blind spots and patterns that are getting in the way of navigating through the world more smoothly. In order to benefit from it, though, you have to be ready to do the work, to be both vulnerable, meaning willing to show up authentically and accountable, meaning not just talking about what's not working, but in doing things differently out in the world to make them work better. And when that happens, the experience can be transformative.

2. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Do you prefer writing or speaking?

I don't know which category I fit into because I like quiet spaces in which to hear myself think or just relax and also to have one-on-one conversations – I'm a therapist, after all – but I really enjoy bringing my message to people all over the world and having the opportunity to have these larger conversations about our emotional health.

3. If a person wants to do one thing to be a better parent, what would you recommend? What about if a person wants to be a better spouse or partner?

In any relationship, the one thing would be to learn how to listen rather than fix or promote your own agenda. Learn to hear not just the content of what the person is saying but the feelings underneath it. And don't try to talk people out of their feelings. You can feel empathy for someone's distress without necessarily agreeing with their interpretation of the story.

4. Do you believe in happiness?

Happiness comes from living our lives in a meaningful way. So I believe in meaning, because meaning leads to joy and fulfillment.

5. What is your purpose here on earth?

Right now I'm on a mission to normalize our emotional struggles. If you're human, you can't get through life without having struggled at one point or another. And to get people to pay attention to their relationships to themselves and others. Our emotions affect our relationships and our relationships affect our level of connection. You asked about happiness, and connection is the number one factor in our level of contentment. So we need to pay attention and not just skate through life!

MKE Lifestyle Magazine's Movers and Shakers

Read the headlines, watch the news or simply live with a teen and you know that the risk is real. 

According to a 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, about 16 percent of Wisconsin high school students reported suicidal thoughts, attempts and/or related injuries. About 27 percent of students experienced symptoms of depression. Countless more likely suffer in silence.

That’s why Amy Lovell and Brooke Talbot are fighting for mental wellness with all their might. Lovell, board president of the local nonprofit REDgen (Resilience through EDucation for a new generation), and Talbot, the organization’s executive director, understand the importance of making wellness part of a school’s overall culture. 

REDgen’s student-led chapters in local middle schools and high schools advocate for health and wellness and work to reduce the stigma that is often attached to mental illness. “We know that when students are struggling, they go to each other,” Talbot explains. “And when their power is to be change agents, that’s really when the culture starts changing.”

Students in REDgen chapters create activities focused on specific areas of wellness, because education is essential to building the lasting ability to cope with daily pressures and to prevent mental health crises.

Lovell notes that REDgen’s educational efforts include community outreach, such as a noted speaker series co-sponsored by University School. On March 16, and in partnership with Daniel Goldin of Boswell Books, New York Times best-selling author Lori Gottlieb will speak at a fundraising luncheon for REDgen. Gottlieb, author of “Maybe You Should Talk to Someone,” is a psychotherapist and columnist at The Atlantic.

REDgen is also organizing a “train the trainer” event featuring the Circle of Security, a protocol designed to strengthen the attachment between parent and child from infancy through adulthood. The protocol is based on the idea that strong connections with caregivers from a child’s early years will build a solid foundation for wellness. Dr. Neil W. Boris, a specialist in infant psychiatry, will lead the training from April 28 through May 1. Both Lovell and Talbot have been trained as Circle of Security facilitators and are excited to bring it to this area.

Lovell explains that REDgen was developed in response to a teen suicide, and its emphasis is on prevention. Talbot adds that the symptoms of mental illness in youth can often present themselves as physiological problems such as headaches, and that lack of sleep and poor nutrition may also affect a young person’s mental health. 

That’s why, Lovell stresses, it is important to take a holistic approach to health and wellness. In partnership with her husband, Marquette University President Michael Lovell, Ph.D., Lovell has also been instrumental in raising the profile of “trauma-informed care,” through the trauma-recovery program SWIM (Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee). She says trauma can exacerbate mental health issues, particularly in families struggling with poverty. 

As part of the program’s launch, Lovell brought pediatric trauma expert Dr. Nadine Burke Harris to Milwaukee to speak about resilience, an event that drew in 800 people.

“If you are well-resourced and dealing with mental health, it’s a long, hard journey,” Lovell points out. “If you’re having trouble putting food on your table and paying your rent, mental health is really, really low on the list. We’re trying to elevate a lot of the great work that’s being done in the community, as well as to connect people to one another.”

Because, the women agree, strong relationships, vibrant local resources and support from family and friends help young people build a culture of wellness that will help them through the tough times now and into the future.

Says Talbot, “It’s not avoiding difficult things in life, but having the foundation and resilience to go through those and grow through those.” — Nan Bialek

New Film Focuses on Teen Mental Health and Technology

Teens and technology are a combination causing a spike in mental health issues.

A new documentary called "Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER" explores depression and anxiety and teens and how those digital screens around us can impact them. It aims to help parents and educators find a balance.

Dominican High School will show the movie on Tuesday night at 7:00.

"I would say student mental health and their relationships with themselves and other people is probably the biggest concern that I think most principals have today," said Principal Edward Foy.

He went on to say the topics are more relevant now than ever.

"It's like my downtime after school, like either nap or instantly get on social media like scrolling Instagram," said student Kailah Malone.

Malone and Noraclare O'Neill are both seniors at Dominican High School. They were open in talking about the mental health challenges they face themselves and how being online can stress those feelings.

"It like solidifies what you say in your head to yourself and when other people say it just really hits you," said O'Neill.

"Whether it's good or bad," Malone agreed.

The two teens joined the REDgen club at school to help their peers feel comfortable and safe talking about mental health.

"Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER" follows Dr. Delaney Ruston as she tries to help her own kids as they struggle with their emotional well-being. She works to understand the challenges the new digital world brings forth and how parents and teachers can help teens overcome them.

"When I’m talking to students it’s pretty common to hear that students may be using social media until late hours of the night and that definitely can affect their mood, their ability to stay focused in class, and it also can correlate with some depression and anxiety," said Caitlyn Cheslock, a school counselor at Dominican.

To manage technology and mental health Cheslock advised families and parents to have conversations with their students about how they are using social media. Whether it means setting curfews or a "phone-free room" where they can decompress could help.

"Also, have critical conversations with children about what they see on social media is a very idealized version of their peers because especially in adolescence students do tend to compare themselves to others," Cheslock said.

A group called REDgen organized the movie screening. They advocate for youth mental health and wellness and hope this film can start a conversation.

"Truly empower themselves and learn about how technology and the impacts the brain, impact relationships, impacts our families, so they are empowered as parents to then be able to set boundaries are healthy for their family," said Brooke Talbot, executive director for REDgen.

Potawatomi Hotel & Casino Announces 10 ‘Heart of Canal Street’ Signature Charities for 25th Campaign

Potawatomi Hotel & Casino on Thursday, Aug. 9 kicked off its 25th annual Heart of Canal Street campaign -- aimed at helping serve children in southeast Wisconsin by providing funds to local nonprofits. The 10 signature charities that will benefit from this year's campaign were announced.

According to a news release from Potawatomi officials, these organizations offer services that engage youth in the arts, provide a safe haven, promote educational growth opportunities, support the development of soft skills and encourage creativity. 

The Heart of Canal Street program serves as the casino’s signature community program and has helped enhance and improve the lives of children and their families in the region for the last quarter-century. Since 1994, the program has provided more than $18 million to hundreds of area organizations, according to the release.

The majority of funds are raised through the Canal Street bingo game, which also began on Thursday, Aug. 9 -- and is played during every bingo session at the Casino through Dec. 13.

Below is a list of the 10 signature charities and their corresponding media partners:

  • City Year Milwaukee—presented by Lamar Outdoor

  • Danceworks—presented by OnMilwaukee.com

  • Exploit No More, Inc.—presented by iHeart Media

  • Hunger Task Force—presented by Clear Channel Outdoor

  • Junior Achievement of Wisconsin—presented by WITI Fox 6

  • Lake Valley Camp—presented by CBS 58

  • Neighborhood House of Milwaukee—presented by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

  • REDGen—presented by Fox Sports Wisconsin

  • Walker’s Point Center for the Arts—presented by 88nine Radio Milwaukee

  • The Women’s Center of Milwaukee—presented by Entercom Media

In addition to the signature charities, Potawatomi Hotel & Casino has selected Pathfinders as this year’s "Charity of Choice." They will receive the first $100,000 raised during the campaign.

Twenty additional charities will also take part in the 2018 Heart of Canal Street season and will be randomly selected at an event on Nov. 13.

On Dec. 17, the Heart of Canal Street fundraising total will be announced.

To commemorate the 25th annual campaign’s kick-off, representatives of Potawatomi Hotel & Casino have been delivering gifts of $2,500 to children’s charities in southeast Wisconsin, chosen at random. Delivery of those gifts, 10 total, will continue through Aug. 17.

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