The teen years can be challenging for many youth. It is a unique and formative time with rapid physical and emotional development. Our teens are navigating these years of acquiring new skills, exploring their identity and finding their place in the world while collectively experiencing some form of grief, anxiety and depression from the pandemic.
The signs of pandemic stress and trauma they have experienced are showing and are welling over to all aspects of their lives. Last fall, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children’s Hospital Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry declared that the pandemic-related decline in youth mental health had become a national emergency.
One good thing to come out of the pandemic is that it lowered the stigma around talking about mental health. To support our youth, we need to speak openly and nonjudgmentally and focus on recreating community, promoting socio-emotional learning and psychological well-being, and providing access and resources to mental health care. There is a gap in mental health resources for teens. Let’s help bridge that gap in our community.
To make more information our teens may need more accessible, we have created a “Tough, but not Taboo Topics” poster in the Neill Public Library’s young adult nonfiction area. Topics, along with their call number, include subjects teens may want to know more about but don’t know how to ask for, such as: abuse (362.76 ); alcohol (613.81); anxiety (152.46); body image (616.852); cyberstalking (364.158); depression (616.8527); healthy relationship spectrum (646.77); homelessness (362.592); LGBTQIAA+ (306.76); sex (613.954); and suicide (362.28).
Self-checkout stations are available for convenience and added privacy.
The young adult nonfiction section will be continuously updated to meet the needs of our teens. If you are looking for a book on a particular topic and cannot find it, you can make a suggestion through our online catalog by clicking “Suggest a Title” or give us a call (509) 334-3595.
Mental health promotion and prevention need a multi-level approach with varied delivery platforms across the community to reach teens. That is why we are thrilled to have available at a “resiliency resource shelf in the Friends of NPL book sale area at the library, where you can find reading recommendations, wellness information and other great resources from Alternatives to Violence of the Palouse. These resources are free, confidential and available to all. Take what you need, they do not need to be checked out, and when you’re done, you can bring it back to the shelf, keep, or pass it on to others who may need the resources.
Neill Public Library has also partnered with Pullman Regional Hospital to promote health literacy in our community with a new program called Read into Wellness. Pullman Regional Hospital is donating four copies of a single title featured for six months focusing on an aspect of health and wellness and will be available to check out at Neill Public Library. February’s Read into Wellness title is “Beautiful Affliction,” by Lene Fogelberg, a memoir about a young woman whose fatal congenital heart condition was dismissed by the medical community in Sweden. Look out for future wellness features and titles from this partnership in the coming months.
The pandemic may subside, but its health effects will be around much longer. We need to invest in our kids’ comprehensive health by providing them the safety and security to seek support when needed, access health resources and be nonjudgmental listeners.
Rachael Ritter is the youth services librarian at Neill Public Library.
