It Gets Better!

Inspiration comes from a variety of places. My own inspiration has usually come from finding hope in unusual places. I am Robert Page, and I work at Mountain Lake Academy. When I came to work here, I did not really know what to expect. I had worked with children before, many of whom I met at the lowest point of their lives. Many of these vulnerable and hurt people, with whom I was charged to help heal, became my greatest teachers.

I entered the field of mental health as a care provider. I had the idea that I would help “fix” broken people. What I saw in them, however, reflected my own brokenness. In their stories I often saw the fragmented pieces of my own pains resurfacing. In their eyes I saw the pain that I had once seen in my own when looking into a mirror. And in their dreams for completion, I also recognized my own hopes to be whole. In the words of Henri Nouwen, I have found myself to a be a “Wounded Healer.”

When I talk to kids, I often experience a sense of distrust in adults. “They lied to me,” is a common sentiment that is pervasive throughout my discussions. Many of today’s youth have a feeling that life has betrayed them. Hope has become more of a novelty than a sentiment. But this zeitgeist does not point to a bleak outcome.

We, in the therapeutic world, are in work of restoration. Mental health is not a fix. Recently I sat with a student that had been at Mountain Lake Academy for over a year. In our conversation I asked him to share with my pieces of his own story. He echoed many of the sentiments that I have already shared. However, I asked him a question that led to a new, more hopeful outcome in life.

Me: If you had one piece of advice to share with someone after your experience here what is it?”

Student: “It gets better.”

My mind was blown. How simple a sentiment. How powerful a message for our students... families... communities... world.

It gets better has resonated with me since that conversation. I think of the struggles of our students:

“I feel like a failure.”

It gets better.

“I feel like no one cares.”

It gets better.

“I am scared that people won’t accept me for who I really am.”

It gets better.

“The pains of my past still wake me up at night.”

It gets better.

“No one understands me.”

It gets better.

I think of the fears of families and our global community:

“How do we normalize life in a time when COVID is ravaging communities.”

It gets better.

“My family feels so broken right now.”

It gets better.

“I can barely hold myself together let alone everyone else.”

It gets better.

“I feel so lost and small in a big scary world.”

It gets better.

This message of hope is so pervasive. One of my favorite authors once wrote, “That which reaches the deepest spreads the widest.” For this student the sentiment of “It gets better” had transformed from an idea to a core belief. It became, for him, a sense of hope in a world of uncertainty. Such a simple sentence is so easy to forget amid our daily deluge of doubts. So, to you reading this, with all of my heart: IT GETS BETTER.