SAN ANTONIO — From SAYC and San Antonio's Department of Human Services:
Crisis Text Line serves young people in any type of crisis, providing them access to free, 24/7, emotional support and information they need via the medium they already use and trust: text. Text “HOME” to 741-74.
If you or someone you know needs immediate mental health assistance, please call 911 and request their Mental Health Response Team.
Like many teenagers, Michael Valdez, 18, knows what it's like to have mental health concerns pushed aside, and deemed as if they are not important.
"Regardless of your gender, background, I know people here today have learned the same lesson," he said. "I’m glad that we’re here breaking this tradition together."
Along with city leaders Tuesday, Valdez announced the launch of the SA Speak Up Teen Mental Health survey.
The survey, which can be accessed here, is targeting 12-19 year-old's in San Antonio who are open to sharing their mental health struggles and feedback to help work towards potential solutions. Valdez wanted to make sure the survey for youth was created by youth.
The San Antonio Youth Commission (SAYC) and members of Metro Health's Project Worth Teen Ambassadors began working on the survey in November.
"We understand that mental health is a prevalent issue in our community and we want it to get addressed," said Valdez.
Liliana Orozco, a high school senior with SAYC knows it can be hard to talk about these issues with people, let alone strangers conducting a survey, which is why there is an option to fill it out anonymously. They also assure participants any personal information will be kept confidential.
"It doesn’t matter the severity; we all deal with anxiety because of school and responsibilities," said Orozco. "We want to give them a voice to talk about that."
SAYC plans to present the results to city council members after sorting through the findings, to begin discussing implementing resources and solutions.
"Whether it be through outside programs, school programs, just whatever they give us the feedback on what they need, we want to be able to address that and bring it city government," Orozco said.
City Manager Erik Walsh said Tuesday, "Really, what we're asking is for teenagers to take the survey, help better inform us so that the council can make the right type of investment decisions on how we can become better."
District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval said mental health is a big priority for the council.
"We want to hear directly from people who are experiencing the issue, who are seeing it on the ground," Sandoval said.
Sandoval also said if the council gets the results in time, it can shape how the American Rescue Plan Act funds are used.
"$10 million currently is flagged for youth, but we’ve also flagged $26 million for mental health in general, so we still have time to do that and we’ll be beginning our budgeting process earlier this year," she said.
As far as outreach for the survey, Valdez said they are depending on word of mouth from peers. Sandoval said councilmembers have their own connections and relationships to schools in each district, as well as to after school programs.
The survey will be open until April 8.