MENTAL HEALTH, SOCIAL ISOLATION, AND SUICIDE PREVENTION

 According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, in the state of California one person dies by suicide every two hours. That’s why there is a movement regionally to update and modernize community mental health efforts by adopting a suicide prevention policy. 

As of mid-2020, the City of San José was the city in our region to most recently adopt such a policy. It calls for reviewing existing suicide prevention policy, promoting suicide prevention resources at City events and meetings, and collaborating regionally to prevent the issue. Under my leadership, Campbell will adopt this policy. 

Campbell school leaders have made admirable strides in addressing student mental health, with many important programs underway. Many of these have been youth-led. For example, at the 2020 State of the District, Campbell Union High School Superintendent Robert Bravo highlighted mental health as a priority for students and shared youth-led efforts to address these issues. These issues can be prevalent and take many forms, including depression and anxiety. Yet the City has not been a partner in addressing these issues. 

I will use regular meetings between school board members and City Council to highlight student mental health as a priority and outline areas of collaboration. The good news is there are already organizations doing important work on these issues. The nonprofit Beyond Differences is a national leader in addressing social isolation, with a strong curriculum to address student mental health among middle schoolers. Organizations like this one can be important partners in addressing this issue. 

 One of the issues the Campbell Youth Commission has identified as a priority is addressing our student mental health crisis. Students have significant mental health problems over economic stress at home, caused by the struggles of working class families in Silicon Valley, the fear of losing family members to a broken immigration system, and even issues with gangs at Campbell public schools. It’s heartbreaking that children struggle to deal with these issues and that community leaders have largely abdicated responsibility. These issues are further exacerbated by the social isolation caused by extended school closures due to the pandemic. I plan to center young voices by working with the Campbell Youth Commission to address these issues. 

While social isolation can affect everybody, seniors, not just youth, are particularly at risk. I will work with senior home communities to share resources for dealing with the issue, as well as collaborate with community partners. I will also explore partnerships between the Youth Commission and senior centers for volunteer programs to address social isolation among seniors.