Accessing the resources to get the help you need can also be very difficult. An event being held this weekend at Bowie State University hopes to fill some of those gaps.
Mental health continues to be a major priority for young people, with increasing rates of depression and anxiety among young people reported in recent years.
But accessing the resources to get the help you need can be very difficult. The National Alliance on Mental Illness says about half of Maryland’s 57,000 teens with depression don’t receive treatment.
An event being held this weekend at Bowie State University hopes to fill some of those gaps.
It’s called the GOAT Youth Mental Health Expo (GOAT is an acronym for Greatest People of All Time) and is aimed at people ages 15 to 24 and their parents and loved ones. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, half of all mental illnesses begin by age 14, and 75% by age 24.
“This is an expo for everyone,” said Cheryl Neverson, vice president of Maryland programs for Volunteers of America Chesapeake and the Carolinas. With so many customers having to travel from place to place for service, “we want to bring people to one place and get all the resources and resources that the county has had to offer. ,” she said. From house to house, place to place. ”
The expo is affiliated with Bowie State and the Prince George’s County Health Department, but is open to anyone around the Washington, D.C., area. More than 1,500 participants are expected to register this year.
Mr. Neverson knows his target audience doesn’t want to deal with boredom, and he promises it’s never boring.
“PowerPoint is now ready to go,” says Neverson. “We know we work with young people and families. They’re energetic and have a lot of energy. So one of the things we’re doing as we continue to grow is Make it interactive.”
There will be music, performances and even a service animal. Bowie State University sophomore Isaiah Atcherson is among those in attendance.
Atcherson said his presentation will address children’s exposure to violence in the media and “how children view it and become desensitized to it.” Ta. “They’re seeing more violence and they want to consume more violence in the media.”
As someone who grew up watching violent movies, video games, and even images on social media, Atcherson said she realized: And I don’t want other kids to do the same thing.
“They witness all this stuff early on. They think it’s cool and fun and try to act it out themselves,” Atcherson said. “As they go on, it becomes more and more normal for them.”
He said it’s a sentiment common to his generation.
“There’s a lot they get out of this expo,” Atcherson said. Too many young people are dealing with mental health issues in the wrong way, so “they learn how not to do those things and do it in a way that’s comfortable for them so they can move forward in life and become more… You can become a better person.”
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