SHARONVILLE, Ohio — Even though he’s sitting outside in 90-degree heat, Lester Parker is smiling. Even though he’s late for cheer practice. Even though he’s talking about his challenging mental health journey.
“It’s overwhelming,” he said. "I used to believe it wasn't OK to show emotion. I used to believe it wasn't OK to be vulnerable, but it is."
The 15-year-old sophomore needs to change clothes.
In the Princeton High School parking lot, his grandmother brought some. Instead of walking through the grass to her car, Parker stayed on the sidewalk. And he smiles while doing it.
Sometimes, Parker said that smile is a mask — part of how he struggles with anxiety, even if it doesn't look like it.
"We see that all the time,” said Emily Meyer, clinical manager of school-based therapy programs at Cincinnati Children's Medical Center. “And I think a lot of those kids do struggle silently."
At the hospital, Meyer’s program started with two people. Now, she oversees 95 licensed clinicians at schools across the region. It's a way students can get the help they need — without leaving the school they’re comfortable in.
“I think it helps tremendously,” Meyer said.
In Ohio, almost 115,000 high school students experience depression, according to the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. One in three high school students struggle with anxiety, which is higher than the national average.
It’s a problem that’s only gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic. And school officials say programs like this can help.
“It is real,” said Ronald Fausnaugh, director of student services for Princeton City School District. “And it is very much present.”
Fausnaugh told us 270 students used school-based therapy last year, and he said participation in those programs led to better attendance and improved behavior.
“We want to see our students grow academically, but we want to see our students grow as people as well,” Fausnaugh said.
Back in the parking lot, Parker told us he wants to be president of the United States. He smiled and laughed. Then, he said he’s joking.
A moment later, through a big smile, he said he’s not.
“When you’re in school, it’s like you’re competing for a spot,” Parker said. “It’s been a journey.”
But Parker said teachers and district officials have helped him through that journey. It’s part of the reason he started therapy in elementary school — because he once struggled with behavioral issues that led some to label him a bad kid.
It's part of the reason he agreed to share his story with WCPO 9.
“We can laugh about it now, but also sometimes you have to look at that child and ask what's wrong with that child,” he said.
Parker hasn’t figured everything out, but he knows one thing.
“It's OK not to be OK,” said Parker. “And when you're not OK, you can always ask for help."
