SAUGUS — The School Department is shining a light on teen depression after learning that nearly 30 percent of Saugus students reported feeling sad or hopeless for two weeks in a row.
Families for Depression Awareness, a Waltham-based organization that helps families recognize and address depression and bipolar disorder to get people well and prevent suicides, will give a presentation to anyone who is involved in a teen’s life at the Saugus Public Library Monday at 6 p.m.
“Growing up when I was a kid, you got bullied at school and went home,” said Superintendent Dr. David DeRuosi. “You were with your own friends in your own neighborhood. But with social media, kids feel like they can never escape it. It’s not just two kids picking on each other anymore. It gets on social media and people are chiming in. It’s suffocating for kids.”
Twenty-nine percent of Saugus students who took a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey in the spring of 2017 said they have felt sad or hopeless every day for two weeks or more in a row and stopped doing some usual activities. The statistic included 19 percent of ninth graders, more than 27 percent of 10th graders, 39 percent of 11th graders, and 21 percent of 12th graders.
More than 10 percent of students said they made a plan about how they would attempt suicide in the past year, including 9 percent of ninth graders, 11 percent of 10th graders, 12 percent of 11th graders, and 11 percent of 12th graders.
Almost 3 percent of students said they attempted suicide and needed to be treated by a doctor or a nurse.
The survey was taken anonymously by students at the Belmonte Middle School and Saugus High School last spring, and was designed to enable public health professionals, teachers, policy makers, and researchers to describe the prevalence of health-risk behaviors among youth, assess trends in health-risk behaviors over time, and evaluate and improve health-related policies and programs.
Overall, 82 percent of students who took the survey said there was an adult they could talk to in their family, about 20 percent said they could talk to a teacher, club advisor, religious leader, or other adult, and about 5 percent said they didn’t have an adult they could talk to.
About 6 percent of students said they had been verbally abused by a date or someone they were going out with, more than 3 percent said they had been physically hurt, and more than 3 percent said they had been sexually hurt.
More than 14 percent said they talked to an adult or mental health professional about depression or suicidal thoughts, and about 3 percent said they felt they did not have an adult to talk to about depression and suicide.
For that reason, and the knowledge on how mental health that affects students has improved over several years, the School Department will hire two school and family liaisons who will provide services at school and at home, and work directly with services such as the Department of Children and Families.
“The idea that we have so many hours a day in school, but without educating beyond the school day, we’re missing the mark,” said DeRuosi.
The meeting on Monday is the second event in a series that focuses on student wellness. A Wellness Committee comprised of school committee members, teachers, parents, and residents meets monthly to discuss issues students could be facing, said Jeannie Meredith, chairwoman of the School Committee.
“Suicide rates are too high — just one is too much,” said Meredith. “As parents and guardians, we get so caught up with working and trying to get kids all over the place that we don’t always stop and notice these things. It’s a glaring issue right now. You want to try to give parents the tools to help their kids.”
