The Palo Alto Parent Teacher Student Association-sponsored mental health and wellness panel held at the Haymarket Theater on Thursday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. sent a clear message that help is available to students and parents in need of guidance.
The purpose of the forum was to educate and equip the community “to be more effective in promoting wellness and good mental health,” said PTSA parent education chair Maureen Simons.
Parents constituted the overwhelming majority of the audience.
“I went because I am a parent of a junior at Paly who is under a lot of stress, and I wanted to know how I could support him better,” said Ellen Schneider. “I want to know what other parents are doing and I want to know how our community is responding. All of our children are vulnerable,” Schneider said.
Some parents in the audience did not have children in high school, but felt that it would be beneficial to understand the issues that their children would be facing once they arrived at Paly or Gunn.
“I have kids in middle school who are approaching high school and I want to get a handle on what kinds of issues parents are dealing with,” said Michaela Presti.
Social worker and guidance counselor Gloria Moskowitz opened the meeting with an earnest appeal to parents to look out for other students in the community.
“Kids have a biological need to move away from us,” Moskowitz said. Because of this, they tend to look to other trusting adults to confide in. Parents in the community need to make sure to be open to their child’s friends.
Thomas Tarshis, a child psychiatrist and adjunct clinical faculty at Stanford University, discussed treatment options for students who suffer from depression or anxiety. He focused on “evidence based” treatments, including medication, various types of psychotherapy and, surprisingly, exercise.
“Regular exercise is just as effective as medication in treatment for depression,” Tarshis said.
“Regular exercise is just as effective as medication in treatment for depression,” Tarshis said, emphasizing that teens should have freedom to decide whether or not to take medication. “We want to empower the teen about different treatment options.”
In response to questions from the audience, Tarshis briefly discussed what are known as cluster suicides, a phenomenon where a number of people in the same community commit suicide in short succession.
“The data suggest that teenagers here have a two to four times increased risk [because of recent suicides in Palo Alto],” Tarshis said.
Primary care physician Meg Durbin discussed ways in which primary care physicians try to look out for teens. She emphasized the plausibility of mental health treatment through primary care, reminding parents that their child’s pediatrician or primary care physician is a great place to start if they have mental health concerns.
Durbin expressed her frustrations regarding mental health insurance and cost, but noted that the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital are providing free counseling services to students directly affected by the recent suicides.
Other forms of stress relief were presented at the forum. Amy Saltzman, a holistic physician, presented a type of relief called mindfulness, which is a type of self-observation or meditation that is based on the idea that “relief is always available inside of you.”
At the end of the meeting, Jacqueline McEvoy responded to parent questions about stress.
“They [students] are asked to do an incredible amount of homework,” McEvoy said. She assured parents that the administration and Paly community were looking to help find ways to relieve this problem.
“We’re looking at this issue,” McEvoy said, reminding parents to continue to push the administration issues of homework, sleep and stress.
Overall, parents were decidedly satisfied with the meeting.
“I thought that it was a great program,” Presti said. “All four speakers meshed together really well, and I think parents walked away with real answers.”