LOWER POTTSGROVE >> You wouldn’t hide the fact that you have diabetes from your doctor, so why would you hide a mental health condition?
The answer, says Pottsgrove High School senior Sarah Pennington, is you shouldn’t.
But the fact remains that all too many “people hide mental health concerns,” said Pennington.
However, hiding is something no one could accuse Pennington of doing.
Tuesday she was front and center on the Pottsgrove stage, talking to her classmates about her trichotillomania (compulsively pulling out her hair) and other mental health battles she has fought; all as part of a series of assemblies aimed at raising awareness about mental health and the benefits of seeking help.
One lesson, Pennington warned, is that it is not always easy to get the right help.
In her case, after two surgeries to correct scoliosis and another for a collapsed lung, all between first and eighth grade, Pennington had begun pulling out her hair as well as suffering from both anxiety and depression.
But at least seven therapists and several misdiagnoses meant it took years for Pennington to get the help she truly needed.
Nevertheless, given that 20 percent of teens ages 13 to 18 will experience some kind of mental health issue – statistically that means 200 students in Pottsgrove High School – asking for help is still the best first step on the road to recovery, Pennington said.
In addition to her presentation Wednesday, Pennington also offered to help Thursday by answering any questions from any students in the high school guidance office all day.
She got started Wednesday by answering many of the unasked questions we all have about mental health.
“Anxiety is not something you choose. You can’t ‘just relax,'” said Pennington. And when you combine it with depression, which robs you of motivation, it makes for a miserable mix.
“Your depression means you can barely get out of bed in the morning and you are not motivated to do anything, but your anxiety level is climbing because of all the work you’re not getting done,” Pennington told the students.
She related her experiences to those familiar to her classmates, like missing “the Hershey trip” in sixth grade because of her second surgery.
In eighth grade a collapsed lung put her in the hospital again, “and a person there took off my hat. I’m sure she didn’t think it was a big deal,” but for Pennington, who now had bald patches as well as no eyebrows, “it was a big deal.”
Hoping she was done with hospitals and had her disorders under control, Pennington began 10th grade with what turned out to be an unfounded optimism.
“By December, I had missed 20 days of school, all because of my anxiety, my depression and my trichotillomania,” she said.
Ultimately, a therapist took her to a residential treatment program in Wisconsin that finally allowed her to gain some control.
“My therapist kept telling me ‘you’re going to take off that hat’ and one day, I convinced myself I would do it for five minutes. And nothing happened,” she said.
“I finally got up the courage to go to a movie theater (without a hat) and the first thing that happened was this woman came up to me and told me she liked my Harry Potter shirt,” Pennington recalled.
“No one was judging me,” she said.
From that point forward, it was full speed ahead.
“I shaved my head because I realized I was trying to hold on to what little hair I had because I thought it was what made me beautiful,” Pennington said.
Her short hair now still shows bald spots, which she no longer tries to hide, and she has a service dog, Daisy, that lets Pennington know when she starts absentmindedly pulling on her hair – which she compared to an unconscious behavior like biting your nails.
She attended a national mental health conference in Texas where she spoke about her struggles and adopted the hashtag: #showyourhero.
Most recently, she was selected as Freedom Forge’s Outstanding Teen as well as winning beauty contests sponsored through the Miss America program.
Pennington has met twice with U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, R-6th Dist., to talk with him about the need for mental health reform and was invited by state Rep. Tom Quigley, R-146th Dist., to set up a #showyourhero table at his annual Health Lifestyles Expo in Pottstown.
She plans to transform it into a non-profit helping teens with mental health disorders and is hoping a local law firm will offer to help her with the paperwork necessary – free of charge.
It was Pennington who proposed the series of assemblies at the school.
Pottsgrove High School Principal William Ziegler said “it takes a lot of courage to speak in front of your peers like this, especially at four separate assemblies in one day. We are extremely proud of Sarah.”
He said Pennington’s assembly is part of a new focus being explored by the school “to find ways to make sure students’ voices are heard.”
Alycia Rossi, a 29-year-old who also attended the assembly and who also has trichotillomania, heard Pennington loud and clear and said she was extremely brave.
“Doing something like this will help so many people,” said Rossi. “When I was in school, I never knew I had this.”
