February 1, 2024

By Courtney Wise

Greetings, MindSite News Readers. In today’s Daily: A peek into a moving profile on a DC teen by the Washington Post (that I hope has a triumphant update in 4 years when its subject, Rashad Bates, completes high school). Research links teen substance use to poor mental health. And Black fathers in Detroit partner to help one another become better parents.

Plus, an essay from a rehabilitation researcher whose entire framework around the industry shifted following his toddler’s life-altering traumatic brain injury.

Through grief and PTSD, a teen struggles to survive to adulthood

At 14 years old, Rashad Bates has grown accustomed to grief and loss. First his father died unexpectedly when Rashad was in the third grade. As he got older, he lost friend after friend after friend in his southeast Washington DC neighborhood to gun violence. Gone are seven in all; the youngest is eternally eleven, says Juwanna Hardy, founder of the DC nonprofit Guns Down Friday, in the Washington Post. She serves as Rashad’s mentor through her program and sees his life on a precipice. He’s grief-stricken and navigating PTSD, mental states tough enough for an adult to manage, but even more difficult when combined with a teen’s impulsivity. One wrong choice could stunt Rashad’s life for years, or even kill him.

Hardy began Guns Down Friday to provide compassion and practical, tangible support to communities devastated by gun violence. Programs include helping hold vigils and funding headstones for victims’ families, “Stop the Bleed” first aid classes to provide citizens with the skills to keep neighbors and loved ones alive after a shooting, a food and book program to enrich the lives of children, and a mentorship program, through which Hardy serves as mentor to Rashad, all to give young adolescents near daily support from a committed adult who is not a family member. Hardy used to work with teens aged 15 to 17, like Rashad’s friend Kevin Mason. But after Kevin, 17, and Demarcos Pinckney, 15, were shot to death last summer, Hardy lowered the age of eligible students to ages 13 to 15. “I learned the pain, at that age, was already too deep,” Hardy said.

DC officials say Hardy isn’t alone in creating youth programs intended to nurture adolescents down healthier pathways to adulthood. The city offers apprenticeship programs and fitness coaching to all children and teens in the District. They also open slots for thousands of youth to attend summer camp or work a summer job, said the city’s deputy mayor of public safety and justice, Lindsey Appiah. Unfortunately, the city struggles to connect with families, so enrollment in city-sponsored programming is low, she added: Either families don’t know the programs exist or they reject them out of distrust for the government. 

Rashad has struggled, even with Hardy as his regular contact. He’s with her two days per week for experiences that will empower and prepare him for his future, such as volunteering in the community or taking conflict resolution courses. Meanwhile, he’s still a kid who wants to be with other kids, hanging around older teens who sometimes erupt into feuds with peers from other neighborhoods. But he enjoyed a recent trip to an Orlando swim park with the program, where he conquered his fear of the water enough to use floaties to relax and paddle into a translucent water cave, marveling in a whisper caught by the reporter: “I’m doing it.”

Teen substance use linked to poor mental health

New research has found that teens who regularly use cannabis, alcohol, or nicotine are more likely to be in mental distress than their peers who do not regularly use those substances, reports the New York Times. The substances are linked to numerous mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, and suicidal ideation. Moreover, symptoms of  distress were elevated in all substance users, even among teens with low-level use. No substance was found to be “worse” to use than another, though scientists learned that self medicating is teens’ primary substance use goal. 

This suggests that asking teens about substance use can help uncover hidden mental health disorders, researchers suggest. The study’s lead author, Brenden Tervo-Clemmens, says that “universally screening for psychiatric symptoms in the context of all types of substance use is what we think might be most important.” For the study, scientists analyzed two surveys: one using data from 15,600 Massachusetts high school students and another using 17,000 respondents to the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Interestingly, the Times notes that despite increased reports of mental distress among today’s adolescents, they use less drugs and alcohol than previous generations. Further, binge-drinking and cigarette smoking are far less frequent practices. Tervo-Clemmens said that may make screening for mental distress in teens a little simpler: The group of regular substance users is smaller than before, meaning substance users today may be more likely dealing with mental health challenges. 

Black fathers in Detroit help one another become better parents at FARM

Willie Bell’s father was an alcoholic. But worse than that, he was absent. Though they both lived in Detroit, his father never visited him, Bell told Outlier Media. And that pain, of wanting a father he could never have, made Bell so angry and resentful that he turned to the same substance for relief in adulthood. It also meant he was following his father’s path. 

Deeply stressed after a layoff from General Motors with three children to support, Bell said he hit rock bottom before he broke the destructive cycle. And after his transformation, thanks to community and spiritual support, he decided to launch Family Assistance for Renaissance Men (FARM) to provide fathers in Detroit the resources and mentors they need to restore torn relationships in their families. “We want families’ wellness to be in place,” Bell said. “Now, everybody’s not going to get it right, but at least if you provide the tools and opportunities, and you provide the communities with support they need, families will thrive there.”

FARM promotes family wellness through a five-point program that directly addresses two leading causes for the absence of Black fathers: incarceration and a lack of paternal leave. G. Bomani Gray, director of the Coalition of Practitioners for Father Support at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, said Black people seen in Detroit’s 36th District Court are 1.7 times more likely to be sent to jail than their white counterparts. In other parts of Wayne County, where Detroit is located, that number rises to 5.2 times more likely. A lack of paternal leave also inhibits critical bonding time between a father and child. A federal Department of Labor report cites research showing that fathers who take longer paternity leaves engage better as parents.

In other news…

James Sulzer believed his 20 years of experience as a rehabilitation researcher would be useful after his young daughter’s traumatic brain injury. On the contrary, he learned that rehab engineering is a field that largely serves itself, rather than real people seeking restoration following a TBI. “The numerous devices my lab developed for Livie were frequently too hard to set up, didn’t engage her enough, didn’t fit in with her busy schedule, or didn’t quite match her abilities,” Sulzer wrote in a guest column for STATNews.  “It showed me that rehabilitation engineering was, and is, utterly unaware of the real problems of families affected by neurological injury…I learned a great deal [about] how the priorities I valued as a scientist were not necessarily the ones individuals seek.” Regrettably, he said, “Lived experience is not treated as vital expertise in rehabilitation research.”

Elmo’s typical check-in on folks’ mental health highlights widespread mental distress: How is everybody doing? It’s an innocent question and one that Elmo frequently asks. But this past Monday, it went from the social media site X, formerly called Twitter, to President Biden’s desk. Scores of people answered saying they were depressed, financially stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed, reported Axios. “I know how hard it is some days to sweep the clouds away and get to sunnier days,” Biden posted in response. “We have to be there for each other, offer our help to a neighbor in need, and above all else, ask for help when we need it. Even though it’s hard, you’re never alone.”

After the unexpected death of her beloved brother, Neal, Shelly Sinha expected to see him again via his ghost: They were so close and both had a slightly sixth sense. Or at the very least, they were both certain they’d encountered ghosts in their various dwellings. Sinha writes in The Cut that Neal never comes directly to her, but she finds great comfort in where he’s landed. 

If you or someone you know is in crisis or experiencing suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and connect in English or Spanish. If you’re a veteran press 1. If you’re deaf or hard of hearing dial 711, then 988. Services are free and available 24/7.