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My Turn by Dmae Lo Roberts

From The Asian Reporter, V33, #12 (December 4, 2023), page 6.

My artistic projects have always been a personal response to the world around me. During the pandemic, a longtime friend went through a tragic loss when her grandchild passed away. She didn’t talk about it much, but I surmised it may have been because of the stress and isolation many young people underwent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just as previous generations experienced war trauma and economic depression, the last few years will forever leave an indelible mark on our youth. What they went through created lasting mental health challenges. Suicide and depression rates are still rising, especially among BIPOC youth.

Through a nonprofit I run, MediaRites, we started The –Ism Youth Files project to highlight the mental health of BIPOC youth and youth with disabilities. We issued a call for submissions for a new book collection as well as a docuseries podcast. Of the 40 submissions received, we selected 20 youth writers. They hailed from Oregon and Washington, as well as Indiana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Connecticut in the U.S. There was also a selection from Kolkata, India. Each writer received an honorarium payment.

During the two-year project, I got to know and respect the contributors. It became a mentorship project as we worked with the writers to polish their work. For the docuseries podcast, I interviewed each writer about the motivations behind their submissions and the effects of the pandemic. Their honesty and lived experiences moved me and the project became a complex and credible depiction of today’s youth.

I heard stories about anxiety, depression, fear, and worry about the future. They shared devastating, yet ultimately hopeful stories of recovery from eating disorders, suicidal ideation, and assault. They talked about the cultural barriers within their families that prevented them from getting immediate help. In fact, the majority of the teens said their friends or siblings knew they were in trouble before their parents did.

The goals of The –Ism Youth Files were to create more awareness about youth mental health and to break the silence that still exists in communities of color. I continue to stay in touch with and have grown close to many of the youth. I have written letters of support for college admissions and passed along information about other writing opportunities.

The title for the book and podcast, Speaking Our Truths, was inspired by one of the personal essays. It was titled "How We Speak Our Truth." Over and over, the young people referred to speaking their truths. After what they went through, honesty and transparency were high priorities for them.

We worked with professionals in mental health, book editing, and publishing. I’m very proud of the book because it has personal stories of overcoming trauma, including helpful strategies the youth learned. It has beautiful artwork and brief graphic novels, as well as fine writing. Alongside the personal stories in both the book and docuseries are mental health tips and solutions. The podcast series was hosted by Asian American youth and featured many interviews. I’m pleased the docuseries is starting to be picked up by public radio stations across the country.

Through the project, we created a lasting document of what young people went through during the pandemic — going back to school, reflections on what the experience meant to them, and what they learned. I wanted the collection of personal essays, poetry, and graphic novels to be a chronicle about life during and after the pandemic, perhaps encouraging more awareness for a taboo subject — especially for the BIPOC communities — and spotlighting the lack of resources for mental health help for youth with disabilities.

One thing rang clear: all of our young writers affirmed that they turned to writing and artistic creativity as a form of comfort and healing, and as a way to gain a more optimistic window toward their futures.

I’m currently in talks with a suicide-prevention coalition through Multnomah County and I hope to create a new season of the Speaking Our Truths docuseries podcast. It would focus on peer-to-peer training for teens so they know how to help their friends and peers who are going through a crisis and need access to professional help.

The Speaking Our Truths book is available for purchase at <www.mediarites.org>, where a free mental health toolkit is also available for download. Proceeds help support a new season of the podcast.