Saturday, May 5, 2007

Youths Describe Obstacles On Their Road to Recovery

Listen to us. Don’t talk down to us. Make us a part of the healing process, and give us choices in our treatment.

This was just some of the heartfelt advice given by a group of young people with mental illness to 200 attendees who gathered at the 17th Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy held last month in Atlanta. Psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health and educational administrators, parents, and mental health advocates were among those who attended the symposium. As they sat onstage facing 200 attendees at the symposium, "Youth in Crisis—Uniting for Action," the youths related eerily similar stories of alienation, being bullied, powerlessness, repeated suicide attempts, and an endless parade of doctors, therapists, and medications.

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