Rural Youth Mental Health Video
Closing the Mental Health Gap Among Rural Youth in the US
By Cemile Kavountzis, for Pfizer, USA TODAY, and Rural Minds
During her freshman year in college, Asheton was deeply affected by a classmate’s suicide. And even though she hadn’t known him personally, his story hit home.
“The thing that stuck with me is that he was just like me,” she said. “He came from a small town. He lived on the same floor as me. He was a freshman, and he was taking the same classes I was, and he was struggling with them.”
For Asheton, moving from Roxboro, North Carolina, to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had been an exciting change from the quiet country roads of her childhood. Growing up, her closest friends lived miles down the road.
“I went from being the smartest kid in the school to being one of the smart kids. And it was like I was pulled underwater,” she explained. “It was the most difficult change I’ve ever had to deal with.”
