TEEN CORNER Welcome to the student section of erikaslighthouse.org! Looking for ways to help yourself or a friend through depression? Want to join our Teen Board or create a chapter of your own? Want to join the Erika's Lighthouse Club at New Trier? You've come to the right place.
PERSONAL STORIES AND TEEN CONTRIBUTIONS—NEW ELH VIDEO
My Journey to Health
Today it is difficult for me to truly recall how I felt before my years of struggling with depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder. I believe, however, that as life goes on you must always work to cope with depression, anxiety, and disordered eating behaviors. I do not feel that these mental illnesses are something that can be cured; I believe you can become stronger and more self-aware, which helps to deal with personal issues on a daily basis. Through therapy, your support systems, and sometimes medication, you can learn ways on how to cope. I do not look at this belief as discouraging because everything that I have struggled through and have learned has made me a better, stronger, more self-confident, courageous person. My struggles with depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder has been, by far, the most knowledge gaining experience in my life. < MORE >
This is What Depression Feels Like
In eighth grade, I went through more pain in one year than most people only have nightmares about. My dad left. I had mono. And one of my friends just lost her life to suicide. These events all happened in a very short time, and I never really had time to grieve and deal with each one. Life kept coming at me. I would think of that friend, and how she seemed to convince people that she was okay. Every day seemed to get longer and longer for me. I could feel my smile turn into a painful look. Every step felt like i was dragging a 500 pound weight. Every breath I took got thicker by the second. < MORE >
Returning from the Hospital
The first day back from the hospital, regardless of how long you're out for, is a scary one. For me, I had just been through a very intense experience where I had to look at my life in ways I had never looked at it before. I had to work to find the root of my depression and figure out what I was going to do to deal with it. And I had to remind myself to think optimistically and use positive coping skills. < MORE >
Losing a Friend
I stood in what used to be her bedroom, and felt a subtle, intangible haunting; she was nowhere to be seen, but she was everywhere. In the photographs she taped to the wall, in the poems she framed, in the light blue carpet, in the books, and in the air. Everything smelled and felt exactly as she once did. Pieces of her were scattered, taped, collected and condensed to this single room and I couldn't help but feel she was echoing off the walls. But then I noticed I had this aching feeling everyday, despite where I am. I constantly magnify the little things to find her reflected in them; she echoes everywhere I go. < MORE >
Teen Radio Show on Depression
"Teen Depression" Click here to listen to the award-winning documentary created by high-school student Buddy Dobrez for WHFH-FM.
Erika's Lighthouse on YouTube
Students from the Teen Board discuss depression and the stigma surrounding it. Check it out.
Contribute!
If you have a story you would like to share with Erika's Lighthouse, we'd love to hear it! With your permission, we may include it on the website or in the Panel Board, so your story could make a difference by touching the lives of many teens. All stories are anonymous. Email contributions to Heather Steward at heather.haven@gmail.com
