By Khadijah Booth Watkins, Associate Director and Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Posted in: Hot Topics

Topics: Child + Adolescent Development

What if our stories held more power than we know? What if our lived experience could help others who might be struggling? What if our experiences could help others gain a greater understanding of youth mental health?

When a young person struggles with their mental health, there can be a profound effect on their friendships, family relationships, academic performance, recreational activities, and overall self-esteem. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I have seen how powerful sharing lived experiences can be for others going through similar challenges as well as for those seeking to gain a greater understanding of mental health and mental health conditions.

Sharing of stories helps to breakdown the stigma and isolation which usually surrounds these young people, who all too often suffer in silence. Our stories can be one of our most impactful tools, informing our evidence-based care, playing a vital role in transforming how we understand youth mental health. Sharing narratives can serve to normalize conversations around mental health and mental health conditions, breakdown the stigma which surrounds mental health, build empathy, and garner hope. Narratives convey personal experiences in a way that enhances empathy, and informs us of the needs of our youth. And for the young people themselves, their stories enrich their lives with friends, siblings and other peers.

In this field, when you work with young people, the stories can come from the young person but also from so many others in their lives.. The key is the sharing of narratives with others who play a meaningful role in their lives. Young people are often part of a multilayered system including their family, schools, spiritual community, athletic teams and social network. Caregivers often have stories to share related to their experience supporting a young person or navigating the mental health or the educational system. A provider may have their own stories to share on the challenges they’ve witnessed parents experience, as well as their own struggles making referrals, enduring barriers faced at the pharmacy, or obstacles they may encounter supporting their patients. Teachers often have stories surrounding the difficulties supporting a young person struggling in the classroom and in the school environment.

Why Stories Matter—Especially for Young People

Stories are ubiquitous in human societies. Whether it is a religious text, a bedtime story, a written novel, lyrics of a popular song or a personal narrative of family history, stories have great power and a vital place in our lives.

They are fundamental vehicle for explaining behavior, are emotionally meaningful, and causally linked, serving as a means of education, understanding and change in our societies – a map that may be continually redefined to create new meaning and behavior. Stories and storytelling are pervasive in all human communities as a means of conveying symbolic activity, history, communication and teaching.

Narratives are co-created between story teller and listener. They require active participation by all present. There is no wonder why stories are part and parcel of all major religions, scriptures, and are both oral as well as written. And there is no wonder that children love stories and want them repeated endlessly.

And this is why we are arguing for the vital role of sharing personal narratives as a core part of advocating for the understanding, support and assistance of mental health challenges for our young people. Whether told by parents or caregivers or youth themselves, stories have great power. Moreover, when our leaders tell their narratives, it carries tremendous power for young and old alike.

For many young people, opening up about mental health can feel scary or isolating. They may worry about being judged, misunderstood, criticized or seen as “weak.” But when a young person hears someone—especially someone they admire or relate to – a celebrity such as an athlete, entertainer, politician —speak openly about their own journey with anxiety, depression, PTSD, or ADHD, something shifts.

For some, hearing others share their story can validate a young person’s experience, reducing a sense of being alone and the feeling of shame. Stories can also help other better understand the challenges and invoke compassion and empathy. Someone’s lived experience can also spur advocacy.

When Your Stories Become a Catalyst for Change

Advocacy is defined by the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, as “the giving of public support to an idea, a belief, or a course of action, such as for human rights.”

Our stories can serve as a platform for us to advocate for meaningful change, big and small. At a basic level, advocacy starts with awareness, shining a light on issues that would otherwise remain shrouded in secrecy and surrounded by stigma. Storytelling gives a face to mental health challenges, making it person and relatable. It can encourage those, who have yet to find their voice, speak up about their experience, their challenges navigating the healthcare system, or skills and strategies they’ve used to cope and become resilient. It can become the foundation for local, regional, national efforts to promote the needs of those struggling with mental illness.

Advocacy has many faces. Beyond awareness, one’s lived experience can serve to inform policies and interventions, making them more relevant, compassionate, and effective. Advocacy doesn’t always mean standing at a podium, lobbying, or signing and sharing petitions.

For many families, advocacy starts at home with a parent, if appropriate, sharing their personal challenge with mental health, with their experience growing up with a grandparent with a psychiatric disorder, normalizing conversations related to emotions and feelings, encouraging sharing, modeling resilience, and potentially helping your young person feel understood.

It could take the form of mentorship from a teacher or coach; supporting a peer through a difficult time, sharing resources, helping them navigate the system, or starting a support group. And this applies to parents, caregivers as well as young people themselves.

It could encompass education and training, influencing and educating policy makers, schools, and healthcare institutions on the impact of mental health, the needs, barriers to care, and how to make service youth and family friendly.

The key to advocacy is that it is not abstract or theoretical. While it may involve ideas and concepts, the most effective forms of advocacy move from awareness to action: Awareness is the first step, opening the door to advocacy. We cannot address challenges if we don’t know they exist.  Once aware, we are able to leap into action.

We have seen this in other areas of health conditions, where awareness turned into action saving lives. Campaigns emphasizing the importance of screening for colon cancer, cervical cancer, and breast cancer have saved lives. Similarly, public service announcements warning us of the dangers of smoking using drugs have changed behaviors, improving health. Unfortunately, we have not seen effective public mental health advocacy campaigns in the United States. This is in contrast to advocacy for mental health care in England, Scotland and Australia.

Your Story Has the Power to Change

You are powerful. Your story is powerful. Your story has the power to support, heal, and promote change. Whether you are supporting a friend, caring for a child with a mental illness, writing a blog, publicly speaking, or lobbying with law makers, your voice has value. Your story can help to shape treatments and interventions, making them more user friendly and relevant. Your story can influence insurance coverage, access to care, state policy and services. Your story can encourage someone to share their story or inspire dialogue. Sharing your story helps reduce stigma and helps others not feel so alone.

Sharing your narrative moves the conversation to talking about real people and real-life challenges expanding and deepening our understanding of the lived experience of mental illness, rather than simply talking about diagnoses and disorders.