TWIN FALLS, Idaho — St. Luke's plans to host a free youth mental health event at the College of Southern Idaho on Tuesday, October 4.
This event invites those in the high school range and older to see a 30-minute screening of the Ken Burns documentary, Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness, followed by a community discussion on youth mental health.
“We really want to have a community conversation and dialogue around youth mental illness and what's happening today and how we can rally together to support our youth in our community,” said Kyli Gough, community health manager for St. Luke's.
Conversations continue to grow around mental health as the public becomes more aware of it. According to Idaho Behavioral Health Alliance, one in four Idahoans struggles with some form of mental illness.
“It should be as important as anything else when it comes to our health and we often forget that and look at it differently but you know we really should be treating it the same. When you have a broken arm you need time to heal. When you have a mental health challenge coming on you need time to heal too and we need to treat those things as equally as important,” said Gough.
Students and parents are invited to attend and learn more about the importance of mental health. The Twin Falls school district serves over 9,000 students and prioritizing mental health is becoming more of a focal point for many educators.
“They’re struggling with stress and anxiety just like adults are and I think that’s always been the case but we’re at a point where we can have these discussions now as a society and our kids are asking for these things. They're saying I'm having a hard time, how can I get better? How can we make this better?,” said Eva Craner, director of public relations for the Twin Falls School District.
For more information on the event, click here.
