Let's break the silence surrounding mental illness

Abby Boyleston goes to the Boys & Girls Club to break the silence.

It's not the old-fashioned kind of silence where children are to be seen and not heard.

It's a silence that keeps America from addressing one of its most pervasive problems, mental illness.

Most people don't want to talk about it. They'd rather make fun of it or ignore it. In either case, the penalties can be severe. Mental illness is the leading risk factor in teen suicide, which is the third leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 24.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness says: "About 60 million Americans experience mental health problems in any given year. One in 17 lives with the most serious conditions. Less than a third get treatment. Half of all lifetime cases begin by age 14, but 10 or more years may pass between onset of symptoms and getting help."

NAMI Beaufort County sent Boyleston into the Boys & Girls Club of Hilton Head Island with its six-week "Breaking The Silence" program that educates young people with accurate, age-appropriate information to end the stigma of mental illness.

Cherryl Garner has done the same thing at the Bluffton Boys & Girls Club.

They also are invited into schools.

Many more children, teens and young adults need to hear it, but too many walls are put up to maintain the silence.

Education is the first step in combating mental illness, NAMI leaders say.

Boyleston started her recent session by asking the children to cite examples of mental illness.

"It was alarming to me that many of the children had no concept of mental illness or mental health," she said.

A few had correct examples, but others suggested things like menopause.

By the end of the course, they could easily identify a large number of the diagnosable mental illnesses that the S.C. Department of Mental Health says inflict one in five people -- 800,000 individuals -- statewide.

"Through the 'Breaking The Silence' program, the children learned that mental illness is an organic brain disorder and not a personal weakness," Boyleston said.

"They also learned that mental illness is not due to bad parenting. They learned about respect and how positive friendships can help people with mental disorders."

After the sessions in Bluffton, Garner said, "Because the 'Breaking The Silence' program is the 'gift that keeps on giving,' students who attend group sessions talk with their close friends, parents and family members about what they have heard."

Children and their families need to know symptoms, and know that mental illness, like a broken arm, is treatable.

"Without treatment," NAMI warns, "the consequences of mental illness for the individual and society are staggering: unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, suicide and wasted lives."

Nationally, this is Mental Illness Awareness Week, established by Congress to help break the stigma of mental illness and strengthen the mental health care system.

PBS will broadcast "Minds on the Edge: Facing Mental Illness." It airs at 10 p.m. Friday, locally on WJWJ-TV.

"It includes realistic scenarios that can happen to anyone at any time," said the national NAMI director.

Locally, there's a lot we can do.

More people can take advantage of NAMI's programs, designed to support and educate.

"Since half of mentally ill people show symptoms before the age of 14, we have an excellent opportunity to encourage others to open their doors to 'Breaking The Silence'," said Margaret C. Richardson of Hilton Head, the new executive director of NAMI Beaufort County.

NAMI will hold its annual barbecue auction -- called "A Celebration of Recovery" -- at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 17, at St. Francis By the Sea Catholic Church on Beach City Road on Hilton Head. Tickets are $25. Call the office at 843-681-2200 for details, or see www.nami.org/sites/beaufort.

NAMI also desperately needs volunteers, Richardson said.

Together, we can break the silence and move beyond stigmas.