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01/06/2016 07:45 AMWhen David Melillo, the recently retired Director of Madison Youth & Family Services, took over the department nearly 33 years ago, he thought getting drugs and alcohol out of the high school would be his biggest challenge. Now as he leaves the department, he says the battle to fight rising mental health issues may be even more daunting.
For the past eight years, Youth & Family Services has surveyed high school students on a two-year interval to assess student behavior. Results from the most recent survey are expected back early this year, but the department is already putting together mental health support and education programs in anticipation of the data.
“Madison Youth & Family Services has started or is about to start 14 small efforts to address these mental health issues,” he said. “I think we can make a significant impact with a relatively insignificant amount of dollars.”
The most recent survey conducted two years ago showed some levels of substance abuse, but Melillo said the number of Madison kids reporting symptoms of depression and anxiety are even more concerning.
“We had been making real strides in drug and alcohol issues and in some other areas, but we were really concerned about the increase in mental health needs,” he said. “There were 10 percent of kids who were seriously concerned about the level of their depression and a wider number who expressed being depressed some of the time.”
Even more troubling is the change in statistics once the data is divided by gender, according to Melillo. When asked if they feel depressed some of the time or all of the time, 17 percent of females answered “Yes” in the last survey.
“If you are a young woman, you are much more likely to be depressed, to think about suicide, and you are also more likely to have low self-esteem and low self-purpose,” he said. “I think the most upsetting thing in all of this is that when you look at the years we have been doing the surveys, those issues for girls are rising.”
While the statistics for young women are more alarming, issues girls face don’t exist in a vacuum and young men are facing new challenges as well.
“The counterpart with guys was that they tended to be more likely to get in a fight or threaten someone or basically a whole array of things that showed a lack of ability to do peaceful conflict resolution skills,” he said.
The depression statistics are linked to a number of social issues, but Superintendent of Schools Tom Scarice said the competitive nature of education today is a big contributor to rising anxiety levels.
“We are 15 years into this high-stakes testing scheme in our schools and that has led to a lot of competition and it has led to a lot of unnecessary pressure on kids and teachers and communities,” he said. “It trickles down and I think we are kind of reaping what we have sown.”
Madison public schools have strongly pushed back against standardized testing, but Scarice said the overall culture of education nationally still affects Madison students.
“My experience in almost 20 years tells me that the culture in schools and the way that we choose to educate our children have a very big impact on students, how they feel about themselves and their outlook on life,” he said. “I think one of the most important things a school can do is have tireless efforts to develop relationships with kids and have highly engaging school work where the kids feel like the school work is important and it matters.”
Scarice said the district works very hard to combat mental health problems in their schools.
“Certainly we can look inwardly and see what can we do differently in schools,” he said. “I think it is the small, incremental things you do day to day that matter most. Kids know if you care, bottom line, they can see through any adult, no matter what you say to them your actions speak louder than words and kids are very perceptive.”
For more information on Youth & Family Services programs and mental health resources, visit www.madisonct.org/myfs.