Peoria's Horizon Recovery works to help teens with mental health struggles
PEORIA, Ariz. - The number of teens reporting mental health struggles is on the rise, and a local organization is here to help.
The backstory:
Mental health is an aspect of life that doesn't discriminate. It affects people of all ages and all backgrounds.
That's why Horizon Recovery is working to help tackle teen mental health struggles.
"I always tell people, too, mental health is kind of like an invisible struggle, right? You can look at someone and think they're perfectly fine, and you just don't know the battles they're having, even in their head or internally," Leosha Aikens of Horizon Recovery said.
Horizon Recovery opened a new residential facility in North Peoria. A one-of-its-kind treatment plan to help teens feel like themselves again.
"With the housing component, it makes treatment just a little bit more cohesive, just because the kids are living within the residential facility all with one another. They program together, they eat together, they go back to the home together, so they're able to have a lot of these conversations kind of in different environments and support one another there," Aikens explained.
What they're saying:
The support is felt by a teen named Christian who was struggling with substance abuse, depression and anxiety following a move and his parents' divorce.
"I knew I had my issues, but I thought it was something I could do by myself, and I wasn't able to realize it until I was in the program. That was my first step, just to recognize I had issues and I couldn't do it by myself," Christian said.
Christian is now doing a lot better.
What's next:
With mental health issues constantly increasing, Horizon Recovery says awareness is needed, and wants to lighten the mood about treatment, encouraging others not to be scared to ask for help.
You can learn more about Horizon Recovery by clicking here.
If you're in a mental health crisis, dial 988 for the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Click here for more resources.