Fountain Of Youth Podcast Ep. 3 Youth Mental Health and Social MediaFountain Of Youth Podcast Ep. 3 Youth Mental Health and Social Media
The MY House Podcast Network
Youth hosts Lily and Aliana talk through hard-hitting mental health statistics, personal experiences with therapy and school support, and the impact of social media on how teens speak about distress. The conversation questions current education systems and highlights how genuine empathy and practical resources could change young lives.
53:44•22 Oct 2026
Youth Mental Health, School Support and Why "You Are Not Alone" Matters
Episode Overview
- Regular, compulsory mental health education in schools is linked with lower youth suicide rates and better awareness for families.
- Stigma and shame around therapy can make young people feel like a "problem" rather than someone deserving care and understanding.
- Only a minority of U.S. states require mental health teaching, leaving many pupils without accurate information or support.
- College settings that offer counselling, anonymous reports and practical tools send a crucial message: you are not alone.
- Normalising jokes about self-harm, underage drinking and calling all sadness "depression" can worsen real mental health problems instead of helping.
“"If you take one thing from this whole episode, it is why are we normalising the bad symptoms, instead of normalising being able to talk about it and saying, how do we fix this?"”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey and wider mental health struggles? This episode of Fountain Of Youth zooms in on youth mental health, the education system, and why proper support is still so hard to come by. Hosts Lily and Aliana break down striking statistics Lily researched, comparing the United Kingdom, the wider United States, and Alaska.
You'll hear how UK schools made relationships, health and sex education compulsory, and how that links to far lower youth suicide rates. In contrast, Alaska’s adolescent suicide mortality rate reaches 32.9 deaths per 100,000, which Lily and Aliana call "triple the national average" and "insane". The conversation moves from numbers to real life.
Lily shares her own story of being sent to therapy in second grade and later entering inpatient treatment at 15, explaining how support felt more like punishment than care: "What's wrong with you now?" was the refrain she grew up with. Both hosts talk about shame, stigma, and families where mental health is either hidden "in a box" or dismissed with "suck it up, buttercup". They question why only 21 U.S.
states require any mental health education in schools, and argue for regular, age-appropriate classes that treat mental health as part of basic health, not a once-a-year assembly. Aliana contrasts her Alaskan school experience with her current university in Idaho, where counselling sessions, anonymous check-ins, and even naloxone training are built into campus life, and where the message "you are not alone" is repeated after a major tragedy.
The episode also calls out how social media has normalised unhealthy coping: joking about self-harm, calling every bad day "depression", and glamorising underage drinking. Instead, they push for compassion, accurate language, and practical resources that reach students and families alike. If you’ve ever felt like the "problem child" or worried about a struggling teen, this open, honest chat might prompt you to ask: what could change if mental health was treated as everyday education rather than a secret crisis?
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