Schools ask for help: anxiety isn't cured by protocols
In Posadas, a mental health team entered a school because the school asked; anxiety is what shows up most.
In Posadas, Argentina, schools are asking for help and a team from the Instituto de Previsión Social entered Colegio Martín de Moussy with the Salud Integral en la Adolescencia program, El Territorio reported.
Anxiety tops the symptoms most seen in that age group, according to Constanza Logegaray, director of the IPS Mental Health Department, in conversation with "Acá te lo Contamos," on 100.7. Demand for care has grown, and the request from schools is repeated across the region.
If you've ever felt your chest tighten before walking into class, you're not exaggerating and you're not lacking faith. That has a name, and there are people trained to walk with you.
«Protocols bring order and are needed. But no form gives a hug.»
Teachers raised their hands first
The demand didn't start at a desk. It started in classrooms, where teachers see their students overwhelmed and don't always know how to support them. In August, according to El Territorio, a Unicef training came to the school to train the teaching team.
The IPS works with two lines, Logegaray said. One is clinical, with a psychologist, social worker, legal counseling, nutritionist and psychiatrist depending on the program. The other is prevention, with teams that go out into the community.
The entire last semester they were dedicated to adolescents. The need to ask for help, she said, shows up in every organization, and the whole community is overwhelmed with the urgencies of the day. That's why she insists on networking.
A protocol doesn't listen; a person does
Protocols bring order and are needed. But no form gives a hug. What sustains a kid with anxiety or depression is someone who sits close, tolerates silence and validates what they feel. Logegaray put it plainly: "Don't minimize the suffering of adolescents."
The protective factors are simple and everyday: sleep well, eat well, have recreational spaces and a group to identify with. At that age, an adult's guidance is still needed.
Especially when identifications get hooked on viral challenges and other things that leave more fragility than strength. And adults are busy too; sometimes we fail to connect with kids.
Faith doesn't replace the psychologist or psychiatrist. It does something else: it gives you someone to hand the weight to. "Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7, ESV). And then it puts people beside you: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2, ESV).
Ask how they're really doing
This week choose one person: a classmate, a younger cousin, someone in your small group. Ask them "how are you really?" and stay there. Don't fill the silence with advice or pressured Bible verses. Listening is already accompanying.
If you're the one drowning, don't carry it alone. Talk to a trusted adult, a health professional or your pastor. In an emergency, look for your country's emergency services, and at findahelpline.com you can find the helpline that corresponds to yours.
No one is sustained by a manual. We are sustained by presence. This week you have someone in front of you who needs exactly that.
