Mental Health Week
Children's Mental Heal Week has just ended but you can find a great read to help get you through tough times at the Orillia Public Library.
Children's Mental Health Week is a national campaign that encourages people to learn, talk, and reflect on mental health topics. If you are going through a tough time you have choices when it comes to dealing with that problem.
The Kids Help Phone is a great resources for youth under 20 years old. They can't tell you what to do but they are there to help you explore your options! Whether you want to talk on the phone or post a question to them online please consider reaching out for help if you need it!
Kids Help Phone
1-800-668-6868
http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/Teens/PhoneUs.aspx
Life is great but coping can be hard, no one is alone. Find your next read here because there is always an interesting story.
Children's Mental Health Week is a national campaign that encourages people to learn, talk, and reflect on mental health topics. If you are going through a tough time you have choices when it comes to dealing with that problem.
The Kids Help Phone is a great resources for youth under 20 years old. They can't tell you what to do but they are there to help you explore your options! Whether you want to talk on the phone or post a question to them online please consider reaching out for help if you need it!
Kids Help Phone
1-800-668-6868
http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/Teens/PhoneUs.aspx
Life is great but coping can be hard, no one is alone. Find your next read here because there is always an interesting story.
Great Fiction Reads
Have a Nice Day
Have a Nice Day
By:
Julie Halpern
Call
Number: YA HAL
Summary:
When
Anna comes home from a three-week stay in a mental hospital, it's time to get
back to normal, whatever that means. She has to go back to school, where
teachers and friends are too afraid to ask what happened. Anna is too
afraid to ask what's going on back at the hospital with her crush,
Justin, and her parents aren't getting along, making
her wonder if she's the cause. It's a lot for a girl who's under
pressure to be just fine. Anna feels better, but is she fine? Is
anyone?
Looking
for Alaska
By:
John Green
Call
Number: YA GRE
Summary:
Before. Miles
"Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big non-event, and his
obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great
Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the
sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver
Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down
the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive,
screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself.
She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals
his heart.
It’s
Kind of a Funny Story
By: Ned
Vizzini
Call
Number: YA VIZ
Summary:
Like
many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into
Manhattan’s Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future.
Determined to succeed at life - which means getting into the right high school
to get into the right college to get the right job - Craig studies night and
day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That’s when things start to get
crazy.
At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he’s just average, and maybe not even that. He soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping—until, one night, he nearly kills himself.
Craig’s suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, isolated from the crushing pressures of school and friends, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.
Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness. For a novel about depression, it’s definitely a funny story.
At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he’s just average, and maybe not even that. He soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping—until, one night, he nearly kills himself.
Craig’s suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, isolated from the crushing pressures of school and friends, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.
Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness. For a novel about depression, it’s definitely a funny story.
Speak
By:
Laurie Halse Anderson
Call
Number: YA AND
Summary:
Melinda
Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops. Now her old friends
won't talk to her, and people she doesn't even know hate her from a distance.
The safest place to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that's not safe.
Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the
night of the party that, if she let it in, would blow her carefully constructed
disguise to smithereens. And then she would have to speak the truth. This
extraordinary first novel has captured the imaginations of teenagers and adults
across the country.
Staying
fat for Sarah Byrnes
By:
Chris Crutcher
Call
Number: YA CRU
Summary:
The
daily class discussions about the nature of man, the existence of God,
abortion, organized religion, suicide and other contemporary issues serve as a
backdrop for a high-school senior's attempt to answer a friend's dramatic cry
for help.
Just
Listen
By:Sarah
Dessen
Call
Number: YA DES
Summary:
Last year, Annabel was "the girl who has everything"—at least
that’s the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf ’s Department
Store.This year, she’s the girl who has nothing: no best friend because
mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister
became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong.
Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to
truth-telling.With Owen’s help,maybe Annabel can face what happened the night
she and Sophie stopped being friends.
In this multi-layered, impossible-to-put-down book, Sarah Dessen tells
the story of a year in the life of a family coming to terms with the
imperfections beneath its perfect facade.
Cut
By:
McCormick, Patricia
Call
Number: YA MCCO
Summary:
Fifteen-year-old Callie isn't speaking to anybody, not even to her therapist at
Sea Pines, the "residential treatment facility" where her parents and
doctor sent her after discovering that she cuts herself. As her story unfolds,
Callie reluctantly become involved with the other "guests" at Sea Pines
-- finding her voice and confronting the trauma that triggered her behavior.
The
Symptoms of my insanity
By:
Mindy Raf
Call
Number:
Summary:
When
you're a hypochondriac, there are a million different things that could be
wrong with you, but for Izzy, focusing on what could be wrong might be keeping
her from dealing with what's really wrong--with her friendships, her romantic
entanglements, and even her family.
Allegra
By:
Shelley Hrdlitschka
Call
Number: YA HRD
Summary:
Allegra thinks being
at a performing-arts high school will change her life and make her a better
dancer. But high school is still high school, complete with cliques,
competition and cruelty. Allegra's refuge comes in the form of a class she
doesn't want to take—music theory, taught by a very young, very attractive male
teacher. Soon all Allegra can think about is music composition—and Mr.
Rochelli. But has she misunderstood his attention, or is he really her soul
mate?
Eight
stories up: an adolescent choose hope over suicide
By: DeQuincy Lezine
Call Number: YA 618.92 LEZ
Summary:
As a teenager, DeQuincy Lezine nearly ended his own life, believing it was the only way to escape the emotional pain that was overwhelming him. Instead, Lezine found was able to find expert psychiatric care, and went on to found the first university campus-based chapter of the Suicide Prevention Action Network USA. Now a researcher at the University of Rochester's Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, Lezine has devoted his life to preventing suicide in adolescents, and he brings the wealth of his personal and professional experience to bear in Eight Stories Up. He starts by describing his deteriorating state of mind in college, using his own email archive to reconstruct retell the episode that would nearly claim his life. He then offers hard-earned wisdom and practical advice to other young people who may be considering suicide. In straightforward, easy-to-understand language, and drawing on the psychiatric expertise of David Brent, MD, Lezine discusses the potential causes of suicide in adolescents, how to seek psychiatric treatment, and how to get the most out of professional help. He also surveys some of the therapies used to prevent suicide, how to talk to loved ones about suicidal thoughts, and how to stay healthy at home and at school. The result is both a remarkable memoir and a useful guide that will ease the isolation and hopelessness caused by thoughts of suicide, helping young people to overcome their troubles in a safe and healthy way. Part of the Adolescent Mental Health Initiative series of books written specifically for teens and young adults, Eight Stories Up offers hope to young people who are at risk of suicide, extending a lifeline of support and guidance that can save their lives.
What you
must think of me: a firsthand account of one teenager’s experience with social
anxiety disorder
By: Emily Ford
Call Number: YA 616.85 FOR
Summary:
We've all felt occasional pangs of shyness and self-consciousness, but for the 15 million Americans with social anxiety disorder, the fear of being scrutinized and criticized can reach disabling proportions. Such was the case for Emily Ford, who shares her firsthand experiences in these pages. Emily's true story of fear, struggle, and ultimate triumph is sure to resonate with other socially anxious teenagers and young adults.
Emily's frank, often witty, sometimes poignant account of how she negotiated all the obstacles of social anxiety--and eventually overcame them with the help of therapy and hard work--makes for compelling reading. Yet this book is more than just a memoir. Emily's story is coupled with the latest medical and scientific information about the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and self-management of social anxiety disorder (or SAD). Readers will find a wealth of solid advice and genuine inspiration here. In engaging, accessible language--and with the help of psychiatrist Michael Liebowitz--she discusses what is known and not known about social anxiety disorder in adolescents. She outlines the various psychotherapies available for those with SAD and explains how to seek professional help, how to talk to family and friends about the illness, and how to handle difficult social situations. The result is both an absorbing story and a useful guide that will help to ease the isolation caused by SAD, encouraging young people to believe that, with commitment and hard work, they can overcome this illness.
Part of the Adolescent Mental Health Initiative series of books written specifically for teens and young adults,What You Must Think of Mewill also be a valuable resource for friends and family of those with SAD. It offers much-needed hope to young people, helping them to overcome this illness and lead healthy, productive lives.
Emily's frank, often witty, sometimes poignant account of how she negotiated all the obstacles of social anxiety--and eventually overcame them with the help of therapy and hard work--makes for compelling reading. Yet this book is more than just a memoir. Emily's story is coupled with the latest medical and scientific information about the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and self-management of social anxiety disorder (or SAD). Readers will find a wealth of solid advice and genuine inspiration here. In engaging, accessible language--and with the help of psychiatrist Michael Liebowitz--she discusses what is known and not known about social anxiety disorder in adolescents. She outlines the various psychotherapies available for those with SAD and explains how to seek professional help, how to talk to family and friends about the illness, and how to handle difficult social situations. The result is both an absorbing story and a useful guide that will help to ease the isolation caused by SAD, encouraging young people to believe that, with commitment and hard work, they can overcome this illness.
Part of the Adolescent Mental Health Initiative series of books written specifically for teens and young adults,What You Must Think of Mewill also be a valuable resource for friends and family of those with SAD. It offers much-needed hope to young people, helping them to overcome this illness and lead healthy, productive lives.
Chasing the
high: a firsthand account of one young person’s experience with substance
abuse.
By: Kyle Keegan
Call Number:
Summary:
In this book for young people struggling with substance abuse, Kyle Keegan recounts his own remarkable story of drug abuse and ruthless addiction. Keegan, now an adult recovering from his addiction, discusses his experience as a well adjusted adolescent who fell victim to heroin and whose life was almost destroyed by the devastating drug. He also provides useful information, such as how to recognise and accept that there is a problem, how to find professional help, and how to stay happy and healthy in recovery.
Happy Reading
