'Quit the judgment': Regina teens blunt about mental health, addictions

Parents just don't understand.

DJ Jazzy Jeff & theFresh Prince were onto something when they recorded that song in 1988. Thirty years later, that's exactly what students in Regina are saying about the ways many adults view mental health and addictions.

"I feel like parents are the people that understand it the least," 17-year-old Tristin Syhlonyk said. "Even the teachers here, some of them still don't get it."

Another famous saying from the '80s also hangs over today's conversations about addictions: "Just Say No."Taking that hardline approach in schools obviously hasn't erased youth drug use, and it certainly doesn't address mental illness, sothat's why Scott Collegiate in Regina is trying something new.

I kept it inside for almost three years before I even let my own mother know.-Samantha Kingerski, Grade 11 student at Scott Collegiate

The high school now offers an elective class called Mental Health and Addictions 10. Syhlonyk, a Grade 12 student at Scott Collegiate, is one of the students taking the unique course.

"Struggling with most of these subjects myself, I wanted to learn how did I become this way?" she said. "What can I do to help myself? Is there different aspects of mental health that some people don't know that need to be figured out more? And now we're realizing that there's different cycles you go through when you're young and using that knowledge has already helped me teach other people."

Syhlonyk said she has suffered from "manic depressive disorder" since she was about nine years old.

"I've always been on medications, gone through more counsellorsthanyou can count on your hands and feet," she said. "Nothing's really worked. But it's because I haven't understood it. And there hasn't been much research to convey your points to children."

You're not alone

Samantha Kingerski is in Grade 11 at Scott Collegiate and is also taking Mental Health and Addictions 10.

"I want to take it because I love to learn about almost anything and mental illness does run in my family, so I always want to learn more about it," she said. "Maybe I could help it or help myself or help someone else in need."

Kingerski said she suffers with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. She is able to talk about it now with friends, fellow students, and even a CBC journalist, but there was a time when she was afraid to talk to her own mother.

"I kept it inside for almost three years before I even let my own mother know about it because no one talked about it," she said. "No one said anything about it, so myself as an individual that suffers with this, I didn't say anything because I didn't know that it was normal."

One of the most disrespectful things you can do is say, 'I understand.'-Ceane Dusyk, Indigenous Advocate and teacher at Scott Collegiate

The 16-year-old said feeling like she couldn't talk to her mom about it made it even more difficult.

"I would look at my mom and her eyes and I would see that she thought I was happy or that I wasn't going through anything," Kingerski said. "She was my best friend. I would tell her everything. But then when my depression hit I shut almost everybody out."

Eventually, Kingerski started asking her mom questions about mental illness and she learned there is a history of depression in her family.

"So I told my mom and it was like a weight has been lifted off my chest," she said, adding that her mom was very supportive.

Syhlonyk, who is friends with Kingerski, said it wasn't a "relief" to know her friend was also facing mental health struggles, but it did help them both.

"It's horrible that anyone has to go through it," Syhlonyk said. "But it feels better to know that someone can at least understand the borderlines of what you've gone through or what you are going through."

The worst thing you can do

Ceane Dusyk is an Indigenous Advocate and teacher at Scott Collegiate. He is heavily involved in the Mental Health and Addictions 10 class. He said there is one major thing he always considers when working with students like Syhlonyk and Kingerski.

"A long time ago when I was in university, I was taught by an elder that one of the most disrespectful things you can do is say, 'I understand'," Dusyk said. "Though your situations can be relatable and you may have been through something similar, you can't completely understand the other person and what they're going through."

Dusyk said it's important to remember everyone is different and they don't have the same emotions.

"Yes, we all get sad but people deal with it in different ways. And these students when we hear their backgrounds and what they're going through, yes I was a teenager, but it's different for them, which is why it's important to hear them speak first and then talk and try to help them from there."

What's really going on

The class at Scott Collegiate doesn't just focus on drug and alcohol addictions. It explores addictions to technology, exercise, and anything else affecting youth.

When it comes to drugs, adults often make their own assumptions about what they believe young people are using. The media helpto shape those assumptions. But few people, as well as young people themselves, have a true idea of whichdrugs can bea problem. Both Kingerski and Syhlonyk were more than willing to talk about what they're seeing.

It's disgusting that kids think the higher your tolerance is towards a drug defines your popularity.-Tristin Syhlonyk, Grade 12 student at Scott Collegiate

"Mostly it's weed that's going around in [this] generation," Kingerski said. "Most kids do smoke cigarettes so tobacco [as well]. I don't really see any harder drugs in our generation."

Syhlonyk said she lives in "one of the worst parts in North Central" Regina and that she sees more severe drug use.

"Unfortunately I get to see 13-, 14-year-olds on all these hard drugs walking around at 3:30 in the morning," she said. "The drugs that I see that are really affecting people in my life, even the youth, it's meth and these benzodiazepines ... I'm seeing less and less of marijuana."

Outside of their class, Syhlonyk said the way young people talk about drug use is "disgusting."

"It's a lot of boasting, showing off," she said. "It's disgusting that kids think the higher your tolerance is towards a drug defines your popularity ... the kids that talk about this, they don't realize that they're addicted."

'Quit the judgment'

When it comes to treating addictions and mental health issues, everyone wants to find quick solutions. Syhlonyk said there is one thing people can do immediately to help those in need.

"Quit the judgment," she said. "If we get judged harshly while we're trying to fix ourselves when we think we're doing the right thing that's when it can all hit the fan. I think the hardest part about talking about it is being scared of getting in trouble or being yelled at. Or you're scared you're gonna get arrested because you have this in your system when you go to try to get help. I think that's why a lot of kids our age don't go for help."

Delaine Anderson, a guidance counsellor and teacher at Scott Collegiate, said being part of the class has made her realize that adults can forget what it was like to be a teenager and struggle with these issues.

"I am so proud of our students at this school," Anderson said. "Many of them are totally willing to talk about their mental illnesses or how they're doing with their mental health. And I think it took a lot of guts for those two to do this ... I think they have a lot of knowledge that they're bringing. They're teaching us."