Phil Wizik, CEO of Monadnock Family Services, will speak Wednesday at All Saints Church on “Changing the Culture Around Mental Health.”
Staff photo: Jesseca Timmons
Public health and community leaders from across the Monadnock region painted a picture of the state of mental health among youth and adults today, and local efforts to enable recovery, during a Wednesday morning event at All Saints Church in Peterborough. He spoke positively.
The event was hosted by the Greater Monadnock Collaborative in partnership with Friends of the Cheshire County Recovery Court and Monadnock Family Services. Speakers included Phil Wyzik, president and CEO of Monadnock Family Services; Tim Weeks, speaker and mental health advocate. John Broderick, former Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court. and Tina Nadeau, former chief justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court.
Todd Horner, program chair for the Greater Monadnock Cooperative, said mental health is a public health issue that not only impacts individuals and families, but also employers, schools and governments. Horner is also executive director of the Keene-based Southwest Regional Planning Commission.
Nadeau, who is known nationally for operating recovery courts that help people struggling with addiction within the justice system, noted that recidivism rates are significantly lower for people who work with recovery courts.
Mr Wizik said smartphone and screen addiction was the biggest contributor to mental health problems in children and young people.
“The Surgeon General has said that mental health is the defining public health issue of our time.Giving a child a smartphone is like giving them a pack of cigarettes or a pack of beer in terms of the harm it causes them. It’s a thing,” Widzik said. “Social media companies are intentionally designing platforms that are addictive, and children are spending 4 to 8 hours a day on them. The way children’s brains develop is changing. It is.”
Widzik said the most detrimental effects of screen addiction on mental health are social deprivation, sleep deprivation and attention deprivation.
“The good news is that people are paying attention to mental health now. Years ago, we wouldn’t be talking about this issue,” Widzik said.
Wyzik shared information from Trauma Responsive Monadnock, a new initiative in New Hampshire that fosters collaboration among the 33 towns in the Monadnock region. Information is available at traumaresponsivemonadnock.org.
