Dear Editor:
I was compelled to response to Emily Mercer Sawyer’s heartfelt and insightful letter concerning mental health support at CWDHS and within our community. First, I want to thank Emily for taking the time to not only express her concerns, but to also dig deeper in an effort to better understand the situation. The world needs more of this.
Secondly, I want to assure Emily and her peers that there are a great many people-both within and outside the school, who share your concerns and are trying to do everything they can to make sure that there are support systems in place and available to EVERYONE. We want our youth to thrive and we won’t settle for anything less.
To that end, we too are doing research and drawing from our own experiences. We’re trying our best to understand where you’re at and how we can help get you to where you want to go. We know that the journey from child to adult is a tough one, but you have the added burden of navigating technological minefields that we, nor any other previous generation, have no experience with. That puts us all in uncharted waters. Far too often we’re left to guess at what you’re experiencing and where to best focus the resources we have. There is no playbook for growing up in these changing times….yet.
Emily, it’s you and others like you who will help us write that book. The more you tell us about your perspectives, your experiences and your struggles, the less we’ll have to guess about what you facing and how we can support you. Talking about difficult subjects is hard-even for many adults. However, we are committed to making this transition as painless as possible for you and all those coming up behind you. The more you help us, the better the outcomes will be. Please, keep talking and we’ll keep listening. Lives depend on it.
Erika Longman
Erika Longman
