Young Adult Presenter: Ending The Silence
Did you have mental health challenges in middle or high school? Are you between the age of 18 and 35? Be a young adult presenter of ETS. Through this free classroom presentation, middle and high school students get to hear the reality of living with a mental health condition. During the 50-minute presentation, a young adult living with mental illness and a family member tell their stories about mental health challenges, including what hurt and what helped.
Why Ending The Silence Matters
- 1 in 5 kids experiences a mental health condition; only 20% of them actually get help
- About 50% of students ages 14+ with a mental health condition will drop out of school
- Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for 15-24-year-olds
- The earlier the better: early identification and intervention provides better outcomes
Training will be provided. At each pre-arranged presentation of Ending the Silence, there are two presenters: one who gives a 25-minute PowerPoint presentation to junior and senior high school students, and another who shares their own lived experience seeking mental health services in middle or high school in the last 10 minutes of the presentation. The young adult speaker also shares their experience by answering questions from students. Speakers can pick from lists of times, dates and places sent out by the ETS coordinator.