转自密尔本华夏中文学校校长欧阳了寒：“前不久密尔本初中毕业的一位14岁的全A学生在家自杀，学生和家长们震惊不已。今天学校特邀Ms Nancy Kislin 来作讲座，回答大家关于忧郁、自杀和其他心理健康方面的问题。李春燕教授主持。来自密尔本和李庄等120多位各族裔的家长参加了讲座。希望我们家长高度重视心理健康，在严格要求小孩时，知道界限在那里。”
My suggestions to Nancy
Speech topics
1. Warning signs of stress and depression.
2. Cell phone and social network causing the rise in depression and suicide.
3. Asian students worrying about not fitting in socially. Do u have clients worrying about fitting in, or being ostracized?
4. Kids hurting/killing themselves because parents don’t accept their sexual orientation.
5. Lack of communication between Kids and parents. How do parents talk to the kids?
6. How to tell other parents about their kids doing inappropriate things, or being depressed.
7. (Time permitting) Peer pressure: drinking vaping and drug use.
Flow: 30 min speech, 30 min Q&A, then 30 min for parents to have mock conversations with Nancy.
1. Something is bothering my child, and I want her to talk to the counselor, but she refused. Pretend you are the Child.
2. I heard my friend’s son is using drugs/vaping, I want to call my friend. Pretend you are the friend. （已现场练习）
3. My child is addicted to his phone. I want to limit the use. Pretend you are the parent. （已现场练习）
4. My husband doesn’t agree w me on the need to seek outside therapy. Pretend you are the wife.
I went through an 8 hour training called Youth Mental Health First Aid, a certificate program for parents and community leaders who interact with children.
Topics include: various mental health issues (definition, signs and symptoms, risk factors), hands on activities such role play (a lot of scenario analysis and role play), quiz, drawing and presenting various tips related to adolescents. Communication skills are emphasized throughout the day: as a first responder, how do you respond to a situation.
The videos we watched, especially a suicide survivor Kevin Hines who jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, was inspiring. Kevin has bipolar, but not properly diagnosed. No one can understand his pain until he decided to end his life. His father noticed something on the morning and asked to take Kevin to work. But Kevin was unconsciously waiting for his father to spell it out “Are you planning to kill yourself?” Kevin went on the bus thinking that if one person asked if he was OK he’d not do it. But no one did.
At the Golden Gate, again Kevin hoped one person would ask him. But one lady asked him to take a picture for her. He did while thinking nobody cared. Then jumped.
To have a survivor go through the entire progression from illness to contemplating suicide is powerful.
The day of training ended with watching rapper Logic rap the suicide hotline. The song generated 150 million views and caused a 50% increase of calls to the hotline (my son knew of this stats reading an article on the song). On the stage are suicide survivors. That scene moved me to tears.
As a community, we need to open up the discussion of mental health, whether kids or adults.
其他背景：青少年女生自残率大幅度上涨