Statewide Youth Advisory Council off and running By Luke Knowles, SYAC Member and Jessel-Paul Smith, SYAC Coordinator On a warm, sunny Tuesday in April, 14 transition-age youth gathered for the first Statewide Youth Advisory Council (SYAC) meeting.
The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) convened this out- standing group with the purpose of giving transition-age youth an opportunity to voice their opinions about the mental health system and DMH services. Recent studies show that youth with serious emotional disturbance (SED) or serious mental illness (SMI) have a more difficult time successfully “transitioning” into adulthood. They are more likely to struggle in graduating from high school, going to college, maintaining a job, resist- ing the temptation to drink or use drugs and staying out of trouble with the law. For the past six years, DMH has focused on addressing these issues among its transition-age clients. The result has been a Statewide Youth-In-Transition Members of the DMH Statewide Youth Advisory Council gathered for their first meeting recently, giving voice to young DMH clients. Initiative. DMH is helping adolescents healthfully transition to adulthood through creating and expanding services such as young adult housing,peer mentoring, and specialized case management.“Youth Voice,” however, is a totally new approach that DMH, along with young adults across the state, are using to improve the mental health system. Local area youth councils in different regions of the state and select representatives comprise the membership of SYAC. The group intends on meeting monthly.The April meeting started off with refreshments. Jessel-Paul Smith introduced himself as coordinator of the Council. The group then took turns introducing themselves. Next was an icebreaker: “If you could only take three things to an island for a year, what would they be?” The answers made the atmosphere light. Then we went full steam into our agenda. Ann Capacitate, DMH Interagency Coordinator for children and adolescents, encouraged members to think about the topic of housing and report back on what they felt was needed in the way of housing services. Jessel-Paul Smith showed three commercials by the AD Council (the same guys who bring you Smoky the Bear) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These Public Service Announcements(PSAs) were created to reduce stigma of mental illness among young adults. They all centered around friendship with a theme of “What a difference a friend makes.” The group discussed efforts to get the PSAs on local television and radio stations. Luke Knowles, the Central Mass Area representative, described his experience at the meeting. It gives a good idea of what a young person thinks about in taking part and using their voice to improve society:As representatives trickled into the statewide advisory meeting, it was obvious that the majority of the delegates were new faces at the table. I was able to empathize with them due to the fact that I was new as well.The first business on the agenda was a poll filled out by all young adults present.This poll gave about a dozen options.The young adults were asked to select which three were the highest priority in their opinions. Housing came out on top and that was the focus of the ensuing discussion. Also part of the business, the MPOWER StateHouse project was announced. On a slightly more abstract note, we considered and discussed the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings. This event has been extremely detrimental to the anti-stigma efforts. The Council agreed that active measures must be taken. A strong campaigning the young adult community at high schools and colleges is needed. In the wake of the massacre the truth is veiled in the eyes of the public by shock and ignorance. With devotion to the cause, we should hope for familiarity and enlightenment. Any young person who is a DMH client may attend the next several upcoming meetings. Permanent members will be selected later. Qualities for representatives are a good sense of humor, a desire to improve the mental health system, the ability to work well with others and pretty good communication skills. And remember, patience is a virtue, the system is changing but the work is sometimes a marathon, not a sprint. Members of the DMH Statewide Youth Advisory Council held their first official meeting this spring. The SYAC is looking for DMH youth to join.