JAMES CITY — A community event aimed at having conversations about youth mental health is scheduled for next week.
As part of National Suicide Prevention Month, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s Lambda Lambda Omega Chapter will host “Unmasked,” a teen suicide prevention awareness event from 6 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 23 at the James City County Recreation Center. The event is being held in partnership with Colonial Behavioral Health Wellness, Support and Recovery Services and Bacon Street Youth and Family Services.
The free event will focus on creating a space for open discussion about mental health and providing resources for help. Families with children ages 10 to 18 are encouraged to attend together.
Jade Ranger, a sorority member and co-owner of The Prescription Shoppe, said the event’s goal is to provide honest dialogue about the mental health issues faced by today’s youth. She said when families are impacted by suicide, they often find out about their loved ones’ issues too late.
“You hear the same things all the time. ‘Oh, I had no idea. I didn’t know. There were no signs,’” Ranger said. “We want to kind of shed light on some things to look out for.”
During the program, Fallon Dodson, Hampton University assistant professor and graduate program coordinator, will discuss mental health and suicide data among youth in the Hampton Roads area and across Virginia, Ranger said. There will also be teen panel discussion focusing on issues that come with student life, such as pressures that come with grades and extracurricular activities as well as social media effects.
There will be also breakout sessions during which licensed health care providers will be available to speak separately with the youth and their parents/caregivers.
Kim Dellinger, executive director of Bacon Street Youth and Family Services, a mental health and substance use treatment facility that serves the Historic Triangle, said her organization was glad to be a partner in the prevention event.
“(We) really wanted to make sure that we were spreading awareness of the services that are provided as well as having an open dialogue around mental health and the stigmas around mental health,” Dellinger said.
As of May 2023, suicide was the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 14 and 15 to 24, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Suicide rates among young people also increased during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 5,568 youth ages 5 to 24 who died by suicide.
One of the best ways to prevent suicide is to become educated and talk about it with other people, Dellinger said.
Some sorority chapter members have been personally affected by suicide in their own families, Ranger said. Despite its taboo and uncomfortable nature, suicide is something people can no longer stay silent about, she added.
“(People) don’t want to have these open, honest conversations,” Ranger said. “But at the end of the day, I think it’s better to address it and be proactive, than have those questions after the fact of, ‘What could I have done?’ ‘Is there anything I could have changed?’”
Ranger said she hopes the event will help attendees, both youth and families, know they are not alone as well as break the mental health stigma for Black and brown communities. Dellinger said she hopes attendees will see its OK to talk about mental health, especially the mental health of the children they love and support.
If you or a loved one are struggling or are in a crisis, call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
For more information on the event, email jade.ranger@tpsva.com.
James W. Robinson, 757-799-0621, james.robinson@virginiamedia.com
