Mental Health Broken System

ART 3170-02 Civic Engagement Project

Jordan Carrera

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Civic Engagement Definitions

The First definition comes from American Psychological Association who state that its an individual or collective action that discusses an issue that is going on within the community. It can range from talking about a certain issue to working with the community to fix the issue. Civic Engagement can range from activities that can help solve the problem or spread awareness.

The Second definition comes from youth.gov that states civic engagement involves someone working to make a difference within their community.  It promotes the quality of life in community through both political and nonpolitical possess. It can also be both paid or not paid forms of volunteering and much more. 

Overall I feel that Civic Engagement has to deal with problems that the community is facing. These issues can range from a list of things such as homelessness, mental health, racism, and many more. It's also use to help spread awareness about the issue but also used to have an impact. Civic Engagement is important as its there to help fix the many problems that communities face and make it a more better place. 

Mental Health Within Latinx Teen Community

                     Social Issue- Mental Health Within Latinx Teen Community

Mental Health has been a major issue that we have seen within the Latinx teen community as many teenagers suffer from depression, anxiety, and much more. This issue is very important to me because I myself have gone through my own issues of depression. Through it I feel that many companies and programs have tried to promote awareness yet it still isn't enough. In many cases latinx households do not believe in mental health and tend to see it as just excuses of being sad. A lot of parents can't meet eye to eye with their kids as they tend to see their behavior as being "rude" or "mean". This issue stems as many older generations don't listen to us and look at us as we don't know what we are talking about. 

The Reason I decided to chose this topic was because I have seen many close to me who have gone through these types of issues and are still affected to this day. Unfortunately many do not seek help as they are already facing a lot of problems with their families not being able to understand what they are going through. This issue is something that we see growing especially with young teens.

According to STATNEWS who interviewed teens about mental health stated that many teens weren't prepared to navigate where and who to go about their health. Many found that they didn't know anything about prescriptions ,finding a therapist,or scheduling appointments. Many teenagers are not aware of the resources around them as many facilities fail to notify them about these resources. In the article many of the people that were interviewed stated that there is not much data available on mental health as many don't see this as a huge issue. Around the age of 18 is when teens tend to dropout or lose access to mental health as they are flooded with a lot of issues. The article also argues that if the United States had universal healthcare like other developed countries that we would see a drop in these rates. 

In an article by Salud America they found that latinx youth was the most disrupted in 2020. The Latinx youth were 60% more likely to report poor or reduced feelings of mental health compared to white students. 22% of the latinx youth have more depressive symptoms than other groups. Which the article goes into detail that the reason to this is because many are afraid or just don't use the resources that are provided to them. However, many of these youth not only face depressive symptoms but the study showed that many also suffered from discrimination,poverty,and school and family issues.

"I do have plenty of experiences with mental health problems. I personally have depression, anxiety and ptsd. Some days are harder than others , while other days are the easiest on the planet. Some days I’m the happiest person alive and other days I wish I wasn’t existing on this planet, but I always think of a brighter future and all the obstacles I’ve overcome and think to myself “ if I can overcome those , I can overcome anything” 

"At the very beginning of my mental health journey , I do say I wish I was helped a lot more , but that was only because my family didn’t quite understand what depression and anxiety were and what that meant for a growing teen. My family’s mentality was “if you have food in your belly, have a roof over your head and have money, you shouldn’t have any depression” and those were my expectations growing up in a broken Hispanic home. but as time went on and after many therapy appointments and conversations with my therapist and family together and research , they got to learning and understanding the ins and outs and importance of mental health. Today, they are the most supportive, understanding, loving and caring family I could ask for and I’m eternally grateful." -Jasmine

"Growing up I wasn't able to express much emotion as I was just seen as weak. This kept me from wanting to express my feelings and emotions to other people. If there should be a difference with mental health it should be that many resources should be free depending on one's circumstance as many who face these issues are young or can't afford to seek help."