LYNN – Community leaders and members participated in a conference dedicated to Children’s Mental Health Week with Mayor Jared Nicholson urging residents “to participate fittingly in its observance.”
“On behalf of the City of Lynn, good mental health is a key component in a child’s healthy development and Children’s Mental Health Week provides an opportunity to focus on this important matter while celebrating the accomplishments of children and families affected by mental health concerns,” read the Wednesday proclamation.
The proclamation states that the Department of Mental Health and Human Services estimates that one in five children in the country is diagnosed with a mental health condition. Research has shown that earlier identification and appropriate treatment of mental health disorders provide better opportunities to lead full and productive lives.
The theme of this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week is “Action Changes Things,” and it stresses that children and youth with mental health problems also “benefit from access to timely services and supports that are family-driven and youth-guided, and culturally appropriate,” the proclamation says.
The involvement and partnership of family members and the care and treatment of children and youth are essential to positive outcomes.
Boston was the first Massachusetts community to mark Children’s Mental Health Week with a proclamation. Lynn was the second. Now communities across the North Shore are participating.
“May is Mental Health Month, and the first week of May we celebrate children’s mental health,” said Dalene Basden, the director of family and community engagement at Justice Resource Institute (JRI).
The color of mental health month is green with a green ribbon the international symbol for mental health awareness. High Rock Tower has been lit up green in past years to mark the week, according to Basden, but this year the lights are not working.
Basden said that as soon as the lights start working, the tower and underpass in Central Square will be lit up to help bring awareness.
“And that’s how Mental Health Month started; it’s to bring awareness and to stop the stigma,” said Johanna Rodriguez, multicultural outreach coordinator at Parent/Professional Advocacy League (PPAL).
The discussion began with two of the members of the Youth Panel, who once faced a mental health crisis in their lives, presenting their stories on how they managed to recover.
“There was a lot of hardship. I got kicked out of my house; I lost my job; I lost everything because of my mental health explosion or blow up,” said Braden Romaniello.
He said he had bipolar disorder, and he had spit at somebody, the police were called, and Romaniello eventually got two years of probation. He said the incident could have been de-escalated and handled better, and that the police didn’t really help in his mental health crisis.
Sheldon Vibbard, who also faced bipolar disorder, agreed that the police didn’t help mediate his mental health crisis. What does work, according to Romaniello, is having a team and “having people who listen.”
Rev. Bernadette Hickman-Maynard, a racial-justice organizer at Essex County Community Organization (ECCO) who also co-chairs the Lynn Racial Justice Coalition, reminded the community of the All Lynn Emergency Response Team, or ALERT, that was designed to respond independently from the police in non-violent emergencies.
Oksana Kotkina can be reached at [email protected].
