Mental Health
Your mental health is everything! This is true for every child; perhaps more so for at risk youth. Mental health issues are prevalent among the traumatized young people who end up in the child welfare system.
Growing up ain't easy! If your parents are at each other’s throat, it’s less easy. And if your dad blames you for having to get married and your mom drowns you in her crazy clean solution of Lysol and ammonia, it’s much less easy. And if these mind-boggles persisted every day since your addled brain remembers, you’re a definite candidate to rebel, give up on school, run away from home, succumb to depression and suicidal thoughts or in some other way symbolically scream at the top of your lungs: HEY! I’M LOSING IT! SOMEBODY HELP ME!
I cannot remember the exact age at which I first began to experience depression. I was less than 10-years-old the first time I tried to kill myself. A handful of sleeping pills seemed like the best approach. Mother somehow found out and had my stomach pumped. A scar on my right wrist
serves as a reminder of the second attempt. Numerous other death threats and suicidal gestures occurred over the following several years. My failed attempts at suicide were loud cries for help, the ultimate means of communicating that life made no sense and was beyond my control.