The #SLJTeenLive Panel on Mental Health in #YALit
As part of the SLJ Teen Live event, authors Nyrae Dawn, Stephanie Kuehn, Jennifer Niven, Teresa Toten and Susan Vaught participated in a panel in which they discussed mental health in #yalit. This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, so I live tweeted the panel. I Storify it here in part so I can find all the great quotes in one place when I want to refer to them. It was a great panel full of great discussion. You can see it at SLJ as they archived it.
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#SLJTeenLive panel on Mental Health in YA Lit pic.twitter.com/8e8RIALedH -
We are deeply affected by the things that happen to people around us. – Nyrae Dawn #SLJTeenLive
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.@TLT16 wrote a great piece about Tackling Mental Health Through YA Lit last year http://ow.ly/9AzM302VG6r #sljteenlive
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“His journey is understanding what is in himself and in his external world he needs to deal with” – Stephanie Khuen #SLJTeenLive
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Q&A w/ #SLJTeenLive Mental Health in #yalit panelist @stephkuehn on The Smaller Evil http://ow.ly/TFjM302VCGE
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I always worry about discussing mental health & using “magical” in the same context. Don’t want to romanticize or stigmatize MH #sljteenlive
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Teresa Toten is discussing research when writing about mental health #sljteenlive
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Toten starts with the DSMIV when doing research. #sljteenlive
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Vaught writes about dealing w/a parent and mental illness from personal experience #SLJTeenLive
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Thank you Susan Vaught for calling out the way current media/candidates are throwing around damaging terms about mental health #SLJTeenLive
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“I am glad language is starting to change . . . ” Susan Vaught #SLJTeenLive
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Vaught wants her MC to know that even if she does have a mental illness she has the potential for help & good life #SLJTeenLive
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#ownvoices puts emphasis on people with mental health issues writing from their experience – #SLJTeenLive
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Question1: how do you consider the topic of #ownvoices in writing about mental health #SLJTeenLive
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Khuen: The value of #ownvoices is that it allows someone other then the dominant group to tell their story #SLJTeenLive
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Khuen: some authors are private & may not want to disclose that their mental health is an #ownvoices book (excellent point) #SLJTeenLive
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Toten: the intersection of storytelling and inserting your own experience is a dicey prospect #SLJTeenLive
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Dawn: Everyone’s experience is different. There is no one experience of depression which we must take into consideration. #SLJTeenLive
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Vaught: We go down a dangerous path when we assume an author is speaking for an entire group of people #SLJTeenLive
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Vaught: it’s important that we not drown out #ownvoices in these discussions; dominant group has an easier path to pub #SLJTeenLive
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Niven: I have heard so many teens say they have gotten help because of the books they have read #SLJTeenLive
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Niven: Teens are experiencing this now & it should be in the books. They need to know they are know & loved. #SLJTeenLive
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Question 2: how do you responsibly approach the topic of medication? #SLJTeenLive
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Nyrae Dawn: if med is the right path for that teen it’s important that they know nothing is wrong with that #SLJTeenLive
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Khuen: it’s hard & complicated. The admission that something is wrong is a hard place to get to. #SLJTeenLive
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Khuen: what I owe teen readers is to be as honest as possible #SLJTeenLive
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Khuen: teen readers know very quickly what is honest and what is not #SLJTeenLive
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Vaught: medication is a choice & we should present it as a choice. Removing choices is not helpful. #SLJTeenLive
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Vaught: other countries deal with mental health differently then we do #SLJTeenLive
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Vaught: meds have side effects. For many it’s a choice between symptoms vs side effects & it’s a hard choice #SLJTeenLive
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Question 3: why is it important to write about mental health #SLJTeenLive
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Dawn: everyone has a right to see themselves in the stories that they read #SLJTeenLive
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Khuen: it’s out there, it’s real, and we need to reduce stigma #SLJTeenLive
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Niven: we need to remind readers they are not alone #SLJTeenLive
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Toten: It’s all around us. It’s part of life so we right as writers about life. #SLJTeenLive
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Vaught: “the ways my mom would come and go because of the symptoms of her mental illness” #SLJTeenLive
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Vaught is talking about the effects of her mother’s mental illness & growing up with a distorted mirror #SLJTeenLive
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A good time to remind people of our #MHYALit discussion hub for our year-long project. @TLT16 #SLJTeenLive http://ow.ly/apUq3036Wdk
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Vaught: having a parent with a mental illness is a significant shaping factor #sljteenlive
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Totens brother was a classic sociopath. This informed her writing of BEWARE THAT GIRL #SLJTeenLive
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Question 5: if writing is about honesty, how do you know who to listen to? #SLJTeenLive
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Sunday Reflections: Let’s Talk About How We Talk About Mental Health in #YALit #SLJTeenLive http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2016/08/sunday-reflections-lets-talk-about-how-we-talk-about-mental-health/ …
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Vaught: be careful to use reliable sources and not just one source #SLJTeenLive
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Mental illness is an illness. Taking meds is no diff then taking insulin for diabetes. – from mental health panel at #SLJTeenLive
Filed under: #MHYALit
About Karen Jensen, MLS
Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).
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