OAHHS Hospital Voice Fall/Winter 2019

27 Fall/Winter 2019 PROVIDENCE HEALTH  PROVIDENCE HELPS TEENS PASS BILL TO REDUCE MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA Four teenagers representing the group Students for a Healthy Oregon organized a successful effort to convince lawmakers to prioritize the mental health needs of students. They are working to raise awareness of teen depression and other mental health issues, focusing on a bill adding mental health to the list of reasons for an excused absence. Previously, conditions such as anxiety and depression have not been legitimate explanations for an excused absence and students say they have been forced to make up reasons for missing class for mental health reasons. “Children are already missing school for mental health reasons,” Sherwood’s Hailey Hardcastle told Oregon Public Broadcasting. She says she and her fellow student advocates want to destigmatize mental illness. “We want them to start a positive conversation about what’s going on and why they need help.” Thanks to the lobbying efforts of the young advocates, the Oregon Legislature passed HB 2191 in the recently completed session. It gives students the option of being upfront with school administrators about missing class to deal with a mental health issue. The students were helped by experts such as Providence Behavioral Health Chief Robin Henderson, PsyD. In an interview broadcast on NBC News, she said, “Parents still have to call the school, but now they can be honest about why they’re taking the day off, to deal with this depression, to deal with a panic attack, to not have to be anxious about having to make up work.” All who worked to pass the bill reject the notion that students are just looking for an easy way to duck out of school. They point to statistics: Oregon has one of the highest rates of suicide in the nation and suicide is the second leading cause of death for Oregonians 10–24. Derek Evans graduated in 2019 from Sandy High School. He told OPB, “Mental health is just as important as physical health.” Hardcastle said students will be more comfortable knowing that authorities value both mental and physical health. The bill expands the definition of excused absences in Oregon schools to include mental health. Those days can now be included in the five such days students are allowed every three months. It’s the first legislation of its kind in the country, and it would not have become law without the work of students dedicated to improving mental health in Oregon. “Children are already missing school for mental health reasons. We want them to start a positive conversation about what’s going on and why they need help.”