Mental Health Summit focuses on awareness, validating students

Students in Pascagoula and Gautier, along with community leaders, gathered this morning for a mental health summit to address the mental health crisis affecting our schools and communities.

The keynote speaker, Emma Benoit, spoke about a failed suicide attempt in 2017 as a result of a mental health crisis. Her talk was followed by a question and answer session to discuss strategies to raise awareness about mental health and to eliminate the stigma.

The summit was sponsored by Singing River Health System, the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and the Pascagoula-Gautier School District.

Benoit said these talks help everyone feel validated.

“I think it’s so important to have events like these, where students get to come, ask their questions, and feel seen, heard and validated about what they’re going through,” Benoit said. “I think when we struggle, it can feel so isolated and so lonely.

“But opening up this conversation in a group setting, can only encourage us all to be vulnerable and authentic with what we’re feeling. And that way we can share it and open up to work through it.”

Noah Fairchild, a Pascagoula High junior, said Benoit’s comments were impactful.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “It encouraged students to speak out, cause a lot of people, they just suffer in silence and that’s not what we want for … to happen to anybody, really.”

East Central High School junior Avery Chapuis said the talk helped bring the weight off some words.

“We got to talk about the weight the words ‘Anxiety, depression, and suicide’ hold and not to have casual conversations about those words. But also to know you’re not alone in how you feel,” said Chapuis.

Singing River director of primary care, Brett Burdine, said it’s important to take Benoit’s message and spread awareness in the community.

“Her message is so impactful. Us in health care, our teachers and our educators, our community,” said Burdine. “We can take this message and take it back and make a meaningful impact on our youth. That’s what we’re trying to do, spread awareness and make this more impactful for everybody.”