Advocates called on lawmakers to implement policies funding mental health support for young people during a Friday conference at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center.
The UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Teen Advisory – a mental health advocacy organization for high school students – organized the event. Rappers Common and Vic Mensa also spoke at the event about how art can serve as an outlet for mental health issues.
The event also featured several breakout sessions at which attendees spoke about how certain factors – including music – can impact mental health.
Dr. Helena Hansen, the interim chair of psychiatry at UCLA, said the goal of the event was to understand what mental health policies could work for young people.
Some panelists are pictured. (Courtesy of Nicholas Mouchawar)
“There are not youth participating in the process at this point, even though youth mental health is the primary concern,” Hansen, the interim director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior said. “This convening is leading to a blueprint for youth wellbeing in the state of California”
The event coincided with the start of Mental Health Awareness Month. It was also the first day that California’s Proposition 1 – a measure that funds mental health treatment and housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness and veterans – took effect.
Hansen said Proposition 1 alone will not adequately address mental health issues experienced by young people in California.
“The truth is, the voters passed Prop 1 last year, allocating billions of dollars to mental health with very little in the way of plans, especially around prevention and youth mental health,” Hansen said. “What we’ve heard from everyone that is close to the process is that there is not consensus about what to do in the way of prevention and community-based early intervention.”
Keris Myrick, the senior vice president of partnerships and innovation for the mental health nonprofit Inseparable, said she was excited to see young people attend the event.
Carina Rodrigues, a research coordinator and program manager in the department of psychiatry and UCLA’s Office of Inclusive Excellence, said the event emphasized the importance of including young people in conversations about mental health.
“We witnessed them (young people) have great discussions with us and with each other and have really thoughtful discussions about the things that matter to them,” she said. ”That was really beautiful.”
The event also featured panel discussions with guest speakers who spoke about their experiences with mental health.
Lonnie Lynn – also known as the rapper Common – said on a panel that he experienced trauma on Chicago’s South Side, leading him to act out when he was young. He added that he believes exposure to violence and instability was often normalized in his community.
Common said he used music, one of the conference’s focuses, to cope with his experiences.
“What I found out eventually was when I expressed myself through writing, what I was doing through music, I was able to reflect on how I felt inside,” he said. “It was coming in the most healthy way.”
Mensa, another rapper, said he enjoys being vulnerable in his music. He added that he is open about his personal experiences with mental health issues to connect with and validate others.
“I look at the world through the lens of my pen, primarily,” Mensa said. “I get the most excited when I tell the most revealing truth about myself.”
Mensa said incorporating meditation and mindfulness into his routine has positively impacted him. He added that maintaining his mental health is an ongoing effort.
“Being a human is a 24/7 endeavor,” he said. “When I was college aged, I felt like I was always looking for a magic pill – and there is no magic pill. Repeated behavior, patterns that become personality, discipline, focus on mental health … that’s my pill.”