Your Voice Archive

Each of us has a voice that needs to be heard regarding the things that affect us. The Kim Foundation is here to help in letting your voice be heard. We want to educate both you and others about issues that affect youth.

We have dedicated this section to your voices. You may wish to either share your story or learn about others experiences. Whatever the case may be, remember you are not alone.

Please help us help others. Click here to e-mail questions, suggestions, or information. Your voice will be heard.

I Always Felt Different: A Child’s View of Living with ADHD

What does it feel like to have attention deficit disorder?

The answer to that question can be found in a report from the Journal of Pediatric Nursing called “I Have Always Felt Different.” The article gives a glimpse into the experience of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, from a child’s perspective.

Assistant professors Robin Bartlett and Mona M. Shattell, from the School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, interviewed 16 college students who had been diagnosed with ADHD as children. The investigators talked to them about how the disorder affected life at home, school, friendships, and what their parents did to help them.

"I Have Always Felt Different" is summarized in Tara Parker-Pope’s health blog “Well” in The New York Times.

Click here to access the article.

Resources Available for College Age Students

College students are faced with many challenges. The demands of work, school, friends, family, and college life in general can often be overwhelming in and of themselves not to mention the fact that nearly half of all college students have reported feeling so depressed that they couldn’t function during the last school year.

Help is available! The following resources contain specific information to address mental health issues faced by college age students. Check them out today!

Active Minds on Campus
Active Minds is a student-run program that addresses the stigma surrounding mental illness among college students. Started in 2001 at the University of Pennsylvania, Active Minds has worked to expose and reduce stigma associated with mental illness within college environments.

Half of Us
Created in collaboration with MTV-U and The Jed Foundation, Half of Us is an interactive online public education website that provides college-aged youth with information about the prevalence of mental health issues on college campuses and connects students to the appropriate resources to get help.

U-Lifeline
A program of the Jed Foundation, U-Lifeline is an anonymous, confidential, online resource center where college students can search for information regarding mental health and suicide prevention. The website has enhanced student features, and a new component called Counseling Central, built exclusively for college mental health and student affairs professionals.

UNL Graduate Shares Battle with Eating Disorder

Maggie Stehr is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Journalism and Mass Communications. She wrote this piece for her honors thesis.

Omaha Youth Leadership Council

The Nebraska Family Support Network invites youth ages 12 to 18 who have experienced social emotional difficulties to join their Youth Leadership Council.

The Council meets on the third Tuesday of every month from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the First Christian Church, 6630 Dodge Street Room 211, and serves as a support group while promoting leadership and encouraging advocacy amongst youth.

To register or ask questions, please call the Nebraska Family Support Network at (402) 345-0791.

When Nothing Matters Anymore: A Survival Guide for Depressed Teens

Bev Cobain wrote the original edition of this book in 1998 after losing three family members to suicide, including her cousin, Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of the rock band Nirvana, who endures today as an icon for youth culture. The book provides straightforward information and advice, as well as first-person narratives from 12 teenagers who serve as role models for solving problems rooted in depression.

Kurt Cobain struggled with bipolar disorder, underlying alcohol and drug abuse, and what some called artistic “angst” and inability to cope with success. Ironically, Bev Cobain is a psychiatric nurse—but one who also has struggled with depression. She knows about what she writes.

Part One of the book explores how it feels to be depressed, the causes and types of depression, and connections to alcohol, drug abuse, and suicide. Part Two discusses how to stay healthy, and when to get help.

There are “You Can Say” suggestions to make it easier for teens to open up with adults whom they can trust, as well as common sense “Survival Tips” such as “Have Some Fun” and “Feed the Spirit.” Laughter, the first one notes, increases breathing rate, heart rate, and muscular activity,” and helps reduce isolation. Feeding the spirit helps reduce feelings of emptiness through creativity or outward-focused activity. The book also includes answers to the Top 10 Questions that teens have asked the author.

Use this link to purchase When Nothing Matters Anymore now from Amazon.com, and the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) will automatically receive a portion of the sale.

WRAP Workbook for Kids

WRAP stands for Wellness Recovery Action Plan. The program was developed by a group of people who had mental health difficulties and wanted to incorporate tools and strategies in their lives that worked to keep them well.

With the help of two great kids, Hawk and Esther, WRAP is available to guide youth through the process of developing their own Wellness Recovery Action Plan. It will help you discover all the things you can do to feel good, stay well and even feel better when the going is hard. It starts with listing all those good and fun things that you can use to develop their action plans like running with the dog, coloring and talking to a friend.

Then, using these tools, the book guides you through the process of listing:

• What you need to do every day to stay healthy and well
• Things that might upset you if they happen and what you can do if these things do happen
• Signs that you are not feeling well and things you can do to help you feel better
• Signs that things are going really badly and things that you can do to make the situation better.

Once you have completed your WRAP, you will have a powerful personal guide to daily living. As you get older you may want to revise or update your plans or even develop new ones.

Developing a WRAP is creative, fun and life changing for everyone involved.

For more information on WRAP and how it can work for you please visit http://www.mentalhealthrecovery.com or e-mail books@mentalhealthrecovery.com.

Adolescents and teenagers across the United States are speaking out about the issues that affect them.

Below is a short list of resources and information written by teens, for teens. Let The Kim Foundation know what has worked for you! Click here to contact us.

Fighting the Monster: Teens Write About Confronting Emotional Challenges and Getting Help. Editor: A. Desetta. 2004. Available from Youth Communication, 224 W. 29th Street, New York, NY 10001; (212) 279-0708; www.youthcomm.org.

The High That Couldn't Last: Teens Write About Drugs. Author: Youth Communication. 2004. Available from Youth Communication, 224 W. 29th Street, New York, NY 10001; (212) 279-0708; www.youthcomm.org.

I’m Not Crazy: A Teen Guide to Getting Mental Health Help. Author: Youth Communication. 2004. Available from Youth Communication, 224 W. 29th Street, New York, NY 10001; (212) 279-0708; www.youthcomm.org.

Overboard. Online comic strip series on addiction written by teens. First installment 1998. Available at Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home Companion Piece, www.wnet.org/closetohome/overboard/menu.html.

When Nothing Matters Anymore: A Survival Guide for Depressed Teens. Author: B. Cobain. 1998. Available at Free Spirit Publishing, Inc., 400 First Avenue North, Suite 616, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1724; (612) 338-2068; www.freespirit.com.