Durango School District 9-R held a youth mental health forum Monday night to discuss rising numbers of students seeking mental health services.

School District employees, students, medical professionals and community outreach groups all gave presentations in front of the school board.

“This is a topic that I think for many families is very real and for some families it remains a little bit abstract,” said Coordinator of Student Support Services Sean Hembree.

He said it was important that the school district have a forum where staff can address what they are seeing in schools. The forum was meant to provide information to families who may have a child struggling with mental health issues and raise awareness for parents who may not know whether their child is having a mental health issue.

Pediatric Partners of the Southwest, which runs the district school-based health centers, reports that 15% to 20% of student visits are for mental health purposes which is estimated to be about 6,000 visits.

Hembree said most people don’t understand that everyone can provide mental health help in schools.

“The assumption is that there's a limited number of experts. There's an unlimited number of providers in schools that just deal with it. When there's a problem, you send it to this provider, and they take care of it,” he said.

However, Student Support Services want 9-R staff members to understand that it's more than just counselors who can help students with their mental health. There are two social-emotional counselors at Durango High School who work with 700 students each.

The consistent mental health problems the district sees are anxiety, depression, post-pandemic stress and substance use.

“We're definitely seeing an increase in substance use and risky behavior that many of us feel are related to mental health needs,” Hembree said.

Hembree said the pandemic affected students’ mental health because of the lack of structure students had during periods of social distancing and other COVID-related regulations.

“They (students) benefit from a routine that's familiar and safe and when students were pulled out of school, they were kind of taken away from that routine and put in an environment with a lot of uncertainty,” he said.

Kim Caruso, a pediatrician with Pediatric Partners of the Southwest, echoed similar sentiments.

Caruso said ideological gaps between parents and students could also be causing some mental health issues for kids.

“I had a young lady who came in the other day and she said, ‘I can't tell my dad that I am gay because he's a really strict Catholic and I'm afraid I would be punished harshly for it,’” Caruso said.

Another issue Caruso emphasized was that there is little substance abuse therapy in Durango. She’s concerned about students who self-medicate to handle anxiety or depression. Caruso said marijuana is the most prominent drug students use to self-medicate.

Executive Director of Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center Jennifer Stucka-Benally also presented on how mental health impacts the LGBTQ community.

Stucka-Benally said the LGBT population is seeing higher rates of substance use and suicidal ideation. They said 40% of the LGBTQ population has had one suicide attempt based on research conducted by the organization.

That statistic lowers to 6.5% when LGBTQ youths feel supported by any adult and even further if supported by an adult family member.

“We don’t have to understand other people to have compassion and realize they deserve the same treatment as anybody else,” Stucka-Benally said.

Students from Durango Big Picture High School also spoke about their experiences with mental health as well what they’ve heard from other high school students.

Big Picture student Sam South said addiction to substances and technology were negatively impacting students.

“I feel like a lot of kids are more or less just trying to fill a void or would rather not be at home,” he said.

He said students would rather be on their phones all day than have actual interactions with other people.

Another Big Picture student, David Fitzgerald, said teachers dismissing students mental health needs is also a problem. He said students have complained that teachers tell other students that their mental health problems aren’t real.

Big Picture student Skye Stevenson described how students are often dismissed as attention-seeking by their peers.

Hembree said substance use can be a confusing topic for students because there are a lot of parents in Durango who are recreational users of substances.

“I think the evidence seems to be that parents are either not comfortable having those conversations or are unsure how,” Hembree said.

He said the school district needs to figure out how to bring parents into a collaborative relationship with schools and make parents comfortable talking about substance use.

tbrown@durangoherald.com