SOUTH HAVEN — The new Portage Township Youth Advisory Commission held a Walk With Me event last weekend to raise awareness for suicide prevention and mental health.
Portage Township Park Superintendent Lisa Leach brought the new group together to address issues of concern to teens. “You get to have a voice for your peers,” she told the group.
Leach hopes to make Walk With Me an annual event. “It may get bigger and bigger. I hope it does,” she said.
“We have smaller parks surrounded by bigger city and county parks,” Leach said, so she wants to make sure the township’s parks don’t needlessly duplicate the offerings at bigger parks.
“We’ve got to do something for the youth in our community,” she decided. “We’ve got to support teens better.”
That includes addressing suicide, depression, drugs, self-harm, and other issues. “We think we’re invincible” at that age, Leach said. Now that she’s older, she knows better.
“It’s turbocharged, the hormones, going from a youth into a teenager,” she said.
“It’s good to be a good role model. It’s good to be a mentor,” she said.”
The event was held on the last day of school for Portage students. “You need to know you don’t walk alone,” she said.
Last weekend’s Walk With Me drew a lot of community support. Porter-Starke Services oversaw a sharing circle so kids could express their feelings without judgment, with adults on hand in case help was needed. The Porter County Health Department hosted a booth and offered financial support, Samuelson Insurance Agency donated white paper bags and battery-operated tea lights for luminaria for participants to honor loved ones or just promote mental health in general.
Amanda Shively, along with her daughter Tia Shively and Tia’s friend Lea Creech, made luminaria at the event.
“I will go with things that make me happy, flowers and butterflies,” Amanda said.
The bag she made was in memory of her brother. “He had a good heart,” she said. “He just didn’t make good decisions.”
Ashlyn Gentry, a member of the township’s Youth Advisory Committee, said she has friends struggling with mental health. “I made my bag for one of my close friends at school,” she said. “I made it in her favorite colors.”
“Now more than ever, our youth need us,” Leach said. “Together, we play a vital role in prevention.”
Substance abuse disorder is the No. 1 cause of death for teens, followed by suicide, Porter County Health Department Administrator Carrie Gschwind said. She was impressed with the event.
“This Youth Advisory Committee is the first of its kind I’m aware of in Porter County,” she said.
John Antecki, a member of V1 Church in Portage, also spoke at the event. “It’s so important to know that just one person can change lives,” he said.
Antecki said he was a troubled youth. “I’m talking 15, 20 failed drug tests in 10 years,” he said. He was saved, he said, and wants to help others now.
His wife, Niki, told a similar story. “We’ve all been impacted by alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide,” she said.
“I would just fantasize about the school bus deriving over a cliff so I wouldn’t have to go home,” she said.
“I’m thankful for my struggle,” Niki said, because it gave her the strength to help others.
“You are saving many lives. You are saving many people’s families,” she said. “Whatever dream you have of serving the people in that way, keep it up.”
“There are lives saved because of what you’re doing,” Niki said.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
