Nine years sober, Bill Brotzman knows first-hand what it feels like to need help.
Brotzman lives in the small town of Oakridge southeast of Eugene. It’s about an hour from any major city, surrounded by forests and streams, with a population of roughly 3,000.
He knows that isolation makes it hard for people to get access to adequate mental health support, particularly for young people. Rural towns across the country often face a shortage of therapists and counselors, as well as after-school activities.
“I saw quite the lacking of youth support,” Brotzman said.
That’s why he now uses his personal experiences to help kids and teens going through similar things. Brotzman is a peer support specialist for a new local nonprofit in Oakridge that’s dedicated to youth mental health, called Hear the Art Youth Outreach.
“If you can save yourself years of wreckage, years of hurting the people you say you love, then let's do that. I am here to help,” he said, adding that people everywhere often forget “the youth is the future of this community.”
Hear the Art just opened this spring. The local group uses several forms of art to help individuals dealing with mental health problems. The organization is committed to helping anyone in the community, but leaders said they’re especially focused on youth dealing with addiction, depression and suicidal ideation.
“I think we are going to make a huge impact,” said AJ Harris, president and co-founder of Hear the Art. “I really do think that after a period of time, people will be able to communicate freely about whatever's troubling them.”
Across the United States, experts have deemed youth depression a severe mental health crisis.
More teenagers are reporting feelings of sadness, hopelessness and loneliness than in previous generations, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And roughly 17% of young people ages 12-19 have had at least one depressive episode, a 10% rise from a decade ago, and many were not able to find support.
Rates are even worse depending on someone’s socio-economic status, education level, sexual orientation, race or gender. According to the CDC, youth in lower-income areas are three times more likely to develop depressive symptoms than those in upper-income areas.
Meanwhile, Oregon has one of the highest youth depression rates in the country at 25% — roughly 10% higher than the national average — meaning one in every four young people is dealing with it.
Harris, along with three others, formed Hear the Art in early March after a young person from the Oakridge community died by suicide. He said they want to create a safe space for people to come and talk to licensed professionals or participate in after-school and weekend activities that are hands-on and creative.
Yes, the goal is to heal, but Harris said it’s also meant to take participants' minds off whatever else might be going on.
The nonprofit’s main platform is through music, with shops and studios from Salem to Cottage Grove pledging their support by donating time or resources to help Hear The Art grow. They plan to see people attending events the nonprofit hosts and taking up an instrument, where professionals will help tutor and show them how to play.
Dan Michalske works with Hear The Art as a licensed therapist and mental health support specialist. He said he hopes to give young people someone to talk to who won’t judge them, saying they “need to be shown respect to have respect in themselves.”
Michalske said they also need buy-in from the parents. Research shows that when resources are available to young people in need, they face lower rates of mental illness and health problems in both the short and long term, improve their academic performance and see greater future success as adults.
“We need to have parents recognize that what we’re doing benefits not only their child,” Michalske said, “but them and the community.”
