Oceanside students attend inaugural teen wellness summit

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“What I’m about to say relates to anything: People sometimes feel like they’re worthless,” one student told her peers in Brookside School’s crowded auditorium in Merrick. “But you are worth it. No matter what, no matter what situation you’re in, you are worth it.”

The message of hope was just one of many shared by more than 200 teenagers at Nassau County’s first Youth Wellness Summit on March 19, which was attended by sophomores and juniors from Oceanside High School. It was hosted by the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, and 22 other schools sent students, including Valley Stream, Wantagh, Seaford, Long Beach and East Meadow.

“Suicide prevention was the main idea, but that’s not the only thing students got out of it,” said Sara Dowler, a health teacher at Oceanside High. “It’s important to understand when someone is suicidal and how to identify kids who need help.”

Six Oceanside students attended the forum along with Dowler, and she said it helped them generate ideas for a mental health awareness club that the school will launch in September. The six students who went to the forum will serve as officers for the club, which will be open to their peers in grades nine through 12.

OHS sophomore Victoria Justin said she was inspired to help start the club because she often feels stressed at school and thought the group would be a good outlet for her and her peers to discuss the issues they face. Victoria said that one of her main goals is to educate parents, who often cannot see that their child is distressed because mental health was not as commonly discussed when they were in school, as it is now.

“One of my bigger ideas was to give a presentation during parent-teacher conferences,” Justin said. “I want parents to come and learn what to look out for and the suicide warning signs.” She added that she learned a lot at the conference and would bring those lessons to the club.

Matthew Minelli, a junior at OHS, said the summit taught him that there are many coping mechanisms that can be used to combat stressors at school, including yoga. He added that there is often a stigma attached to mental health issues that he hoped would change.

“Things have changed and not everybody accepts it,” Minelli said abou mental health issues. “I really think spreading awareness on the issues that we deal with in school is a very important thing.”

The summit marked the first time the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide, a New Jersey-based nonprofit, ventured into Long Island. The group, which builds awareness about the rising mental health problems in teenagers and offers coping mechanisms, holds similar summits annually in their state.

“There is such power in knowing that it’s OK to not be OK — in reaching out for help,” Dawn Doherty, director of SPTS, told the students.

Doherty remarked that the topics of depression and suicide are often taboo in schools, and SPTS wants to eliminate the stigma. Through multiple panels and presentations, people with their own mental health struggles — such as Josh Rivedal, a career public speaker on suicide prevention — shared their stories with the students.

Rivedal spoke about his personal tragedy during his presentation: The loss of his father and grandfather to suicide, and his own struggle with suicidal thoughts. He recalled reaching out to his mother during a dark moment years ago.

“When I first called my mother up — I hadn’t talked to her in about six months — she stopped me and said, ‘Josh, you need to get right with God and get back in the church,’” he said. “I got really offended. That didn’t make sense to me as a kid and it didn’t make sense to me when I was unwell.”

“But actually,” Rivedal continued, “I didn’t get angry with her because of the religion thing — it was actually because she was trying to fix me. But we can’t fix anybody. We can facilitate; we can’t teach.”

Stacy Brief, a Bellmore native and past Mepham High School student, also shared her personal struggle. She considers herself a survivor, having battled depression and suicidal ideation in the past, she said. Now a junior social work major at Adelphi University, Brief has channeled her grief into supporting teens.

“She’s a survivor,” said Brief’s father, Michael, an employee of Friedrich Air Conditioning, which sponsored the summit. “It’s her superpower.”

Some of the summit’s panels encouraged active student participation, such as Brief’s “Strings of Hope,” which had the teens texting questions anonymously to the panelists. Dozens of students also arrived at the summit with yoga mats in hand, ready to participate in a group yoga session.

Other prevention and wellness techniques were taught as well, such as preparing teens for life after high school, removing toxic relationships, building self-confidence and learning good communication skills.

Theana Cheliotes, a social worker at Mepham, described the “Knowing Your Worth” workshop, which had students interacting with one another, writing positive messages on one another’s backs on a piece of paper. “I call this first impressions,” she said. “Many of the things written on a young lady’s paper were things she didn’t quite believe she possessed — but perfect strangers were able to see these things in her. She looked at the paper with tears of joy in her eyes.”

Brief, who helped bring the event to New York through the group’s Long Island committee, said that issues such as depression often manifest in middle school for teenagers. Young students today face “immense pressures,” she told the Herald in February, particularly with social media constantly weighing on their self-esteem.

“With mental health issues in America on the rise, the district is seeking positive and proactive ways to engage students in being part of the solution to what is becoming an epidemic among adolescents,” said Eric Arlin, Bellmore-Merrick’s director of special education and pupil personnel services.

“Our hope is that students and staff take the lessons and skills they learned today and become ambassadors in their own districts,” said Michael Harrington, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

While this summit was Long Island’s first, it will not be the last, Doherty said. SPTS plans to continue its partnership with the Bellmore-Merrick district and organize the summit annually. The group also plans to branch out to eastern Long Island.

Anyone who struggles with depression or thoughts of suicide is encouraged to contact the 24/7 suicide prevention line at (800) 273-8255, or to text 741-741.