This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
04/12/2017 08:30 AM“Ever since we were little, we were always taught work hard, like you want to be the doctor, you want to be the lawyer, you want to be the big businessman with a suit. People are different—maybe that’s not for everyone.”
Those are the words of Emma Valdez, a student at Daniel Hand High School (DHHS). For Derek Cornwell, 27, youth development coordinator at Madison Youth & Family Services (MYFS), they’re the words that stuck to explain a high rate of stress in Madison teens—and to explain why, in a 2015 survey done by MYFS, 11 percent of Daniel Hand High School students reported that they had attempted suicide at least once in their lifetime.
“That quote really sticks out to me,” Derek says. “A lot of students are being pigeonholed at a young age—[told] you have to be in this field to be successful—when that’s just not the case. There’s a lot of things you can do to be successful.”
Following the survey, Derek spoke directly with DHHS students to determine the root causes behind its results. It’s true pretty much anywhere: Being a teen is tough. Every parent wants their child to be the best at academics, sports, extracurricular activities, and to attend college. It’s simply not possible for everyone—but in Madison especially, there’s extra emphasis on excellence.
“There’s a lot of successful people here, and kids learn that from their parents: Be successful in everything you do,” says Derek.
At DHHS, that translates into kids overloading their schedules with multiple sports, extracurricular activities they’re not necessarily interested in, multiple AP courses, and anything else that might translate into acceptance by a prestigious school. The resulting stress can lead to anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.
So what can be done to reduce student stress?
“The first thing we did was just some simple stress relief activities during exam days,” says Derek. “We had therapy dogs come in, we had yoga, we had coloring stations throughout the school, we handed out stress toys.”
Derek also helped form the group LEAD at DHHS. Originally the group of students who helped review the survey data, today it’s an ongoing group that has created personal stress management plans for students, designed the stress reduction-focused Breathe Week, and hosted the student panel “Under Pressure” to raise awareness about stress and its effects.
However, Derek emphasizes that these activities are relieving the symptom, not the cause.
“We can provide a bit of stress relief, but that’s really a Band-Aid,” he says. “At LEAD and Madison Youth & Family Services, we think it’s more of a community issue. Madison is just a really competitive place and there’s a lot of pressure on these kids to do well and to be the best at everything they do.”
To enact change on a grander scale, Derek hopes to hold more panels in which students can speak directly to parents and the community to inform them about what they’re seeing and feeling at school.
“It’s going to take a lot more than a student group at the school,” Derek says. “I think the general attitude needs to change. A lot of parents ask their kids, ‘How was your day?’ and they’ll say it was fine, but when you get down to it and give the kids a voice they have a lot to say.”
Originally from Winchester, Virginia, Derek graduated from Virginia Tech in 2012 and earned a master’s degree in community psychology from the University of New Haven (UNH). While at UNH, former longtime MYFS director David Melillo gave a talk to Derek’s class about his organization.
“When he left, I said I wanted to work there,” Derek says.
Today, Derek’s been working at MYFS for just over two years. He lives in Branford where he explores local hikes with his Siberian husky, Brue.
For Derek, MYFS’s focus on positive youth development is what drew him in. He enjoys the approach of listening to students and working with them directly to enact change.
“A lot of what we do comes from the students,” he remarks.
However much he enjoys working with students, it’s clear that Derek wishes for more support from the community in general.
“It’s a tricky thing to change a culture,” he says. “It’s going to take a community effort.”
As for whether his attempts to relieve stress at DHHS have paid off so far: “I get a lot of positive feedback. We’ll find out in the fall when we give out that survey again,” he says.
On Wednesday, May 17, MYFS presents “Above the Pressure” from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Brown Middle School. The program is open to the whole community with a focus on middle schoolers and their parents. “Applying to College: A Student Perspective,” a panel on the college process for rising juniors, rising seniors, and their parents, is on Thursday, May 25 with time and location TBD. For more information, visit Madison Youth & Family Services on Facebook or www.madisonyouthservices.org.