by Grace Deng, Washington State Standard
June 12, 2024
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. For the youth helpline, call or text 888-537-1634 or make a report online at HearMeWa.org. For the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
In the summer of 2016, amid a string of youth suicides in the Tri-Cities area, a 17-year-old Kennewick student named Ben Tucker took his own life at a local high school stadium. It was the same stadium that local college football star Conner Mertens used to play at.
“To see someone who could have been me — that was the moment where I was so fed up,” said Mertens. “I felt just useless making Facebook and Twitter posts about how awful mental health conditions are for youth in our town.”
“It was either do nothing, or step up and try to get something done,” Mertens said.
So Mertens, then a college student, sent a text to his local legislator, then-state senator Sharon Brown. The two were familiar with each other already: Mertens attended the same church as Brown and went to the same high school Brown’s kids went to. Within the week, he was at her kitchen table, talking about mental health issues faced by eastern Washington’s young people.
Eight years later, Mertens stood beside Brown and state Attorney General Bob Ferguson to announce the launch of HearMeWA, a first-of-its-kind statewide helpline for young people that will connect callers to the Sandy Hook Promise National Crisis Center.
HearMeWA, which was created with input from a youth advisory council, seeks to help young people with “everyday challenges,” such as bullying, struggles with gender and sexuality, mental health issues, or “anything that makes life hard,” according to a Tuesday release from Ferguson’s office unveiling the program.
The hope is that the helpline will offer an alternative beyond schools or 911, especially for those in rural communities, where emergency services are often the only resource available for youth in crisis.
“No problem is too small to report to HearMeWA,” the release says.
Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young people aged 10-24 years old, according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide rates are rising among young people, especially among Black and Native youth. LGBTQ+ young people and youth in rural communities are at a higher risk of suicide.
Mertens, who played for the Willamette University Bearcats and was the first openly LGBTQ+ college football player, said the helpline is for everyone, but he hopes it will be there for the “14-year-old version” of himself.
“I never saw a future where I could be an athlete and be open about my sexuality. I was convinced it was something I was gonna take to my grave,” said Mertens, who is bisexual. “I think about that 14-year-old terrified kid, the confusion, the hope of changing himself and just the isolation and feeling very, very, very, very alone.”
<h4>How HearMeWA will work</h4> <p>Anyone — including concerned adults — will be able to call or text the HearMeWA phone line or visit HearMeWA.org to make a report to the Sandy Hook Promise National Crisis Center’s trained counselors. </p><p>Reports are triaged by urgency, then sent to community responders varying from schools, social workers, counselors, nurses, regional crisis lines, local law enforcement, Child Protective Services and even 911 – although state officials emphasize that HearMeWA is not a substitute for 911 and on its own will not make up for gaps in mental health resources.</p><p>“This effort doesn’t end with the passage of legislation. It’s about fostering open communication within families, creating safe spaces in schools, and ensuring our communities have access to the mental health resources that they need,” Brown said. </p><p>According to Mertens, the idea partially came from Michigan’s <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/ok2say">Okay2Say</a> tipline, which allows students to anonymously report threats to students and school personnel. </p><p>“I don’t want it to get lost on anyone the power of just the existence of these tools,” said Mertens, who recalled calling the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ mental health advocacy group that runs a crisis hotline, at 17. </p><p>“I called, I heard a voice on the other end, I hung up immediately. That’s all I needed. I just needed to know someone was there,” said Mertens, now 29. </p><p>Makena Crosser, a member of HearMeWA’s youth advisory council, said she’s glad the council exists to bring young people’s perspectives to the table. Crosser, a sophomore at Bainbridge High School, said she dealt with social anxiety while growing up due to her speech impediment. </p><p>“I didn’t feel like there was anybody that could understand what I was feeling, and it would have been wonderful if I had a program that was available where I could have someone to talk to,” Crosser said. </p><p>The Youth Program Team at the Attorney General’s Office reached out to young people in all of Washington’s 39 counties. The office said every single tip will be responded to and the system is built to ensure responders can easily connect with one another. </p><p>“I hope that we’re able to reach those queer youth and that they’re able to know that there is an army of people that are willing to support them, and that life is a beautiful thing worth living, and that they don’t have to have [the] same anxiety and isolation that I had when I was young,” Mertens said. </p><style> figure, .tipContainer, .socContainer, .subscribeShortcodeContainer, .donateContainer {display:none !important;} .youtubeContainer { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin-bottom:12px; } .youtubeContainer iframe, .video-container object, .video-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100% !important; height: 100%; margin: 12px 0px !important; } .newsroomSidebar {width:35%;max-width:35%;padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;float:right;margin-left:50px;} .snrsInfoboxSubContainer {padding:10px;border-top:solid 2px black;background-color:#d3d3d3;} .halfwidth {float:right;width:50%;max-width:50%;} .indent2Container {margin-left: 1em;margin-bottom:1em; border-left: solid 1px black;padding-left: 2em;} @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {.newsroomSidebar {max-width:95%;width:95%;margin-left:4%} .halfwidth {float:none;width:100%;max-width:100%;} }</style> <p><a href="https://washingtonstatestandard.com">Washington State Standard</a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>. Follow Washington State Standard on <a href="https://facebook.com/WAStateStandard">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/WAStateStandard">Twitter</a>.</p>