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About a month ago today,[br]I sat on the edge of my hospital bed,

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and I asked myself[br]the simple question, "Why?"

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I had worked for years to be where I was,

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a young social activist, who co-created[br]two successful non-profit organizations,

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a good student, and an even better friend,

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and a girl who never lacked[br]positivity nor energy.

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I asked myself why I had ignored[br]what was going on in my head for so long,

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simply to maintain this reputation.

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I had already accomplished[br]so much in my life,

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when strange things began happening to me.

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When even though I was incredibly[br]academically motivated in the past,

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I couldn't seem to do homework,

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and I removed myself from friends,[br]I didn't answer my phone for a week,

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and I refused to go to school,

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and getting out of my bed[br]in the morning seemed impossible.

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Now, looking back,

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I realize that I had to redefine[br]what success was.

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Because if everything I'd done[br]in my life, leading up to that point,

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deemed me successful,[br]why was I siting in the hospital?

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I realize that my ability[br]to find this new normal,

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my ability to adapt[br]to this new-found empathy,

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that's what made me successful.

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Being got diagnosed[br]with clinical depression

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is what it took for me[br]to realize what success was.

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Though I could go on, I'm not here[br]to simply tell you all about my story.

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I am here to tell you why I think[br]this is happening not only to me

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but to a dangerous number[br]of teenagers in this country.

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A statistics that is increasing every year

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and why each one of you needs to advocate[br]for programs and schools for teens

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that are suffering from[br]depression and anxiety.

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Depression in our society is not obvious

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when you are walking down[br]the street or the hallway,

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but simply open your laptops,[br]your smartphones, your tablets,

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and do maybe one Google search,[br]and you will be blown away.

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After my one Google search,

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I found that after a study[br]conducted in this spring,

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1.6 million Tumblr blogs were examined

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and of those, 200,000 contained[br]pictures, videos, and text posts

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of teenagers hurting themselves[br]due to depression.

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Is it because we now have the technology[br]to express an ever-present feeling

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or is it something greater?

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Is it just a coincidence

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that school systems and standardized[br]tests are getting harder

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and college acceptance rates[br]are going down,

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and the pressures to be[br]stereotypical men or women are everywhere?

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Is it possible that we, that this society,[br]is the thing responsible

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for the increasing disease[br]that is more than capable of killing?

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And we don't talk about it much

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because it is often deemed a phase,[br]or hormones, or being overemotional.

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Oftentimes, conversations regarding[br]mental illnesses such as depression

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result in words being thrown around[br]that are nearly irrelevant.

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Depression is not the emotion sadness.

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Depression is a state[br]of being below neutrality.

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Sadness is an emotion that comes[br]and goes just as happiness does.

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My biggest pet peeve is when someone comes[br]up and says something along the lines of:

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"I'm sorry, I was just depressed earlier,[br]I'm so depressed right now."

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Depression does not just come[br]and go, it's there.

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And it is the third largest cause of death[br]among teenagers in this country.

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4,400 kids commit suicide a year,

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and for everyone of those,[br]at least 100 attempt.

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So now, I am standing here[br]asking you all the same simple question

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I asked myself when I was[br]in the hospital: why?

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But this time it's: "Why we are[br]not doing more to prevent this?"

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My school has a Bridge program for kids

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that are transitioning in[br]from an extended absence.

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Many of us had suffered from[br]severe depression and severe anxiety,

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and many of us said[br]the program had saved our lives

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because it puts our mental health first.

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How can we be expected[br]to be successful in life

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and go to a good college,[br]and have a good career,

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if the pressure is too overwhelming,[br]and we don't even finish high school?

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"Bridge" talks to our parents, teachers,

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anyone we need to know what is going on[br]in order to help us cope.

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The Bridge team consists[br]of an academic coordinator

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who has the weirdest taste in music,

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like this guy is either listening[br]to Bob Marley or tribal music,

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there is really none in between.

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We have a mental health specialist[br]who is obsessed with mini butterfingers.

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An intern who is insanely[br]good at bananagrams,

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and another intern who,[br]though is very smart and goes to Harvard,

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has yet to advance past two songs[br]on the guitar this year.

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But even so, this four people have become[br]a both necessary and life changing asset

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in mine and other Bridge students' lives.

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I am here to ask you all a quick favour,[br]a quick favour to advocate to schools,

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advocate to your school boards[br]for these programs.

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Because when I was in the mental hospital,

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I met a girl, we can call her Jane,

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and Jane had been there for weeks

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and I'd never met someone[br]who understood what I was going through,

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and now I know that she felt[br]the exact pain, had the exact fear as me,

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she had been there for weeks,

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it was her third hospitalization[br]and her school had no support for her.

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I told her about Bridge,[br]and she was blown away

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that something like that existed.

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We shouldn't have to wait[br]for this statistics to get higher,

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and the number of teens to skyrocket,

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because if we have the power to raise[br]100 million dollars in a month for ALS,

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we have the power to advocate[br]to schools for programs.

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I'm in the process of creating[br]another non-profit organization

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of which provides schools[br]with funding necessary

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to create these programs for teens.

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So please be on the lookout for that.

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But in the meantime,

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if you don't have depression[br]or if you don't know anyone who does,

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advocate for the 10% to 15% of our society[br]that are suffering from this disease.

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We are so blessed to live in[br]a country where our voices,

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our voices are meant to be heard,[br]and they actually mean something.

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So if just some of you,[br]who listen to me talk today,

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advocate to your school boards and beg,[br]plead, demand that programs are set up,

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and maybe you start a petition,[br]and it's for school funder's support,

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whatever you do, just do something,[br]the impact would be life changing.

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Together, we can fight this disease[br]that is controlling so many of us.

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And if you're out there,[br]you're dealing with the depression,

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turn the energy that you have[br]towards hatred for this awful thing

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into energy for change.

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Because together we can fight back,

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and we can't let it win,[br]we can't let depression win anymore.

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It's time to fight back.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)