Depression, eating disorders, suicide, addictions, and abuse all negatively affect the mental health of teens who suffer from these conditions. One student aims to help those teens this year with a new school-wide mental health program called Lifeline.
Megan Ewan, senior, created the Lifeline program when trying to come up with a project to complete for her Girl Scout Gold award. Ewan will not only oversee the project, but will be in charge of the entire program, from providing and creating the materials to leading and speaking at the sessions.
“My project is basically starting a mental health awareness program at the school because, although we have social workers and counselors and stuff, we don’t have any program that just focuses mainly on mental health,” Ewan said.
The program will have two parts: an in-school session sophomores will attend to learn more about mental health and mental illnesses, and a student support club that will look for ways within the school to educate the school and help students with mental illnesses.
“I got permission [from Principal Kim Kolze] to basically almost teach a class. It’ll be for sophomores, and it’ll be during their health/gym/Driver’s Ed period – whatever they have at that time – and I’ll take them out of class…it’ll be for two days, so it’ll basically be a 90 minute program,” Ewan said. “I haven’t decided completely what that program will cover, but really it’s mainly going to be what mental health is, and then we’ll cover more of the specifics people aren’t used to hearing, like depression, suicide, and I want to do eating disorders and abusive relationships because I feel like those two are important, but I don’t know how much time I’ll have.”
Ewan’s biggest goal with the class, besides educating students on mental illnesses, is to create a lasting program that can be continued even after she has graduated. Ewan wants to start this year with the sophomores so that in two years the majority of the school will have gone through the program.
To make the Lifeline last, Ewan will be creating power points, videos, handouts, and other supplies so the program can continue for years to come. She is receiving help from a program in Canada called Beautiful Minds. The program sent Ewan many of their materials from their mental health awareness program for her to use in her program.
“The community really is helping me. I’m not being fought in any way – people want to make the difference,” Ewan said. “I don’t have a budget, I don’t really have any money [for the program], it’s just me trying to make a difference.”
As for the club, Ewan plans to use it as a way to further help the school. She wants to give students a way to provide direct feedback on what changes they think the school could benefit from in terms of providing support for mental illnesses.
“It’d be volunteer basis, you know, who wants to be a part of it, because you can’t force kids into helping out with that kind of stuff. You won’t get the same results. I just want feedback straight from the students,” Ewan said. “It would be led straight hand-in-hand with a social worker or counselor to make sure that we’re in the right direction because we [as students] don’t really have the right [professional] knowledge to know what will help. Some things you think will help and really they go wrong, and it’s a serious enough matter where you can’t really afford to make mistakes.”
Sheila Tanner, social worker, has been working with Ewan on making sure her information is accurate and has agreed to be present at the meetings the club would conduct.
One of the most important components in both the class and the club will be something Ewan calls witness talks, or testimonies, from students – and potentially adults – who have struggled with a mental illness. Ewan herself will be giving some of these testimonies as she has struggled with depression and eating disorders over the past few years. She believes her own struggles are what provide her with the passion to complete a project of this scale.
Ewan aims to conduct the class and begin the club during second quarter this year. As for her Girl Scout Gold award, she has not gotten Lifeline approved yet as a Gold award project, but she says even if the Girl Scout Council does not approve it for a Gold award, she will still continue with the program.
“For me, the [Gold] award is just kind of like an added bonus, it’s not really why I’m doing it. We really have a need for [this program] in our school and you don’t really realize it until you’re in that desperate situation where you really have no other alternative and you do something stupid,” Ewan said. “I feel like [a mental health awareness program] is a need, and if I don’t address it, it might be forever until someone else does.”