A Vancouver Island high school student is calling on the government and school board officials after two friends died from mental health and addictions issues.
Jayda Lynn Abdelrahim, a grade 12 Esquimalt High School student, is calling on government officials to change the way it interacts with students regarding mental health and addictions.
Last Thursday, BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau read statement aloud from Jayda during question period at the BC legislature.
“I’m addressing the legislature today with respect and honour in hopes of bringing Victoria’s youth and their voice together. There’s a huge gap in our understanding and proper prevention skills targeting mental health crises and substance addictions,” read Jayda’s statement.
“It is true we grow up to make our own decisions, but suicide and overdoses are never a choice to a youth that’s yet to learn the true potential of themselves.”
Jayda’s statement comes as her past year was marked by her best friend, Genessa, committing suicide and another friend, 12-year-old Allaya Yoli Thomas, dying of an overdose—both individuals were under the age of 17.
See more: Sooke school district partners with community groups to keep youth off opioids
“I lost two of my friends. I grew up with them and spent a lot of time with them, they were people that meant a lot to me,” Jayda told Victoria Buzz.
“It’s been really hard to try and move on. Genessa was going through a lot of social anxiety and mental health issues, and she was not being supported in the immediate crisis she was going through.”
Jayda is now calling on government officials for more immediate action into this crisis. In a fast-moving world, Jayda said, government officials aren’t moving as fast as they should be in getting a handle on the situation.
“20 years ago if you heard that a 12 year old died of an opioid overdose, you would be shocked. Now, it seems common.”
“What’s going on when kids don’t want to attend class because they are addicted to a substance? When they don’t have help? The principles and directors of education aren’t moving with how fast the world is moving, and youths are suffering.”
While Jayda said she doesn’t claim to have the answer to all of these complex questions, a solution she suggests is classes offered by trained professionals and trusted crisis survivors who have survived addiction.
“I think there needs to be people who have experience in addiction and are clean and have found a recovery path teaching a class that students can go into to learn substance abuse, depression and how those lead into one another,” she told Victoria Buzz.
“There needs to be an education [on this subject] before kids begin experimenting and finding out if it helps with their crying, or with their attentiveness, or with their sleep deprivation. We need to get it before kids 12 and younger are getting high.”
Current Funding
Last month, the BC Coroner reported that over 1,200 BC residents have died due to a toxic drug supply in 2021 so far—461 were on Vancouver Island. Victoria is specifically experiencing the highest number of illicit drug toxicity deaths in 2021 so far, along with Vancouver and Surrey.
Victoria Buzz reached out to the BC Ministry of Education on how they’re pivoting their funding for mental health and addictions issues among kindergarten to grade 12 students.
In September 2020, The Ministry of Education released a new Mental Health in Schools Strategy, which outlined a vision and pathway for mental health promotion in the K-12 education system.
A representative for the Ministry said that students in BC are learning about drug prevention from kindergarten and throughout school until graduation.
The province has now implemented new integrated child and youth teams in five school districts, boosting early intervention and prevention supports in schools across the province and eight new after-school Foundry centres offering virtual drop-in counselling sessions, peer support check-ins and group offerings.
Addionally, the Ministry of Health and health authorities have created 123 new treatment beds specific to youth aged 12-24.
In July, the province announced that the Stigma-Free Society was provided with $45,000 from the government to expand mental health research and support into schools across the province. The funding was focused to support two resources – a student mental health toolkit and the virtual stigma-free school program.
Despite these investments, a stigma still exists, and Jayda believes that there aren’t many places where kids can ask their questions without a police presence.
“How does one-time use turn into addiction? Is there such a thing as healthy drug use? Is a drug-user a bad person?” Jayda’s statement read aloud at the BC legislature.
These are just some of the questions that Jayda said she would like youth in schools to feel comfortable asking at such classes she’s advocating for.
Jayda said, “Youth deserve to ask questions like these.”
