The good news is that stigma can be overcome through educating people and communities about depression and spreading a message of hope. Stigma is the mark of shame that depression carries and creates isolation, loss of hope and barriers for those who suffer to receive treatment. Treatment for depression is available and effective, but more than 80% of people never receive treatment due to stigma. Untreated depression can cause changes in the brain over time and put people at higher risk for problems such as substance abuse, relationship difficulties, trouble in school or work and even suicide. Getting treated for depression early is important because it can often reduce the length of a depressive episode and can lessen the severity of future episodes. Lifestyle changes such as proper sleep, regular exercise, a healthy diet in addition to other coping skills can also make an enormous difference in alleviating the symptoms of depression. A sixth-grade boy tells her, “I know this had to be hard for you, but I appreciate it so much.The most common and effective treatments for depression include talk therapy, and for some people, medication if talk therapy alone is not enough. Several students approach Mills to thank her. The students applaud Mills, and Green tells them, “We’ll take what she created and turn it into something beautiful that other schools will be able to utilize.” … I challenge each of you as you go through this workbook to pour your whole heart into it, allow it to challenge you, allow it to speak into your life and to change you. Mills tells the students, “I want you to remember this moment. Each student follows as the song “Rise Up” by Andra Day fills the room. Eighth-grader Wilson Walker stands to be the first student to sign. Hold on if you feel like letting go/ Hold on, it gets better than. Mills invites the students to sign banners showing they are committed to choosing life. The Hold On video is an avowed attempt by this double-platinum pop-punk band to talk suicidal kids back from the brink. … This voice doesn’t get the final say in your life. “… It will say there is no way out of this, and it will say you are not worthy. “This voice comes to whisper to you during a perfect storm, when you’re having a moment of feeling hopeless, when you’re having a moment of shame or a moment of feeling fear,” she says. … She didn’t know that some of her greatest mistakes are just setups for greater things - if you will just learn from them.” And the end of those things, in her mind, meant the end of her. “Her identity was tied to the very things she thought she was going to lose. “There was a battle for her identity and her purpose. “There was a battle going on for her life, and we didn’t even know it,” she says. Mills says she never knew the voice of suicide could seep into Lexi’s life when vaping threatened her scholarship and reputation. … I pray that you will have an open heart and an open mind to hear it and receive it.” Mills tells the parents, “You will hear a story about a girl who seemed to have it all but was overcome by the pressures of this world. (Mills) is going to help you to understand that you really need to continue to be there.” They’re just making you work at it a little harder. “They’re telling you they don’t want you there, but they really do want you there. “I know they are pushing you away,” he says.