Mike Kerrigan raising awareness, funds for Troubled Youth
For months, 18-year-old Jacob Kerrigan acted out.
One day he’d be fine, helping out on the family’s farm near Glencoe, but the next his behaviour was erratic — Jacob couldn’t focus and would leave.His parents, Mike and Kathy Kerrigan knew that more than teenage troubles were to blame.
“It was hard to distinguish,” Mike Kerrigan said. “Sometimes you’d think, ‘Oh, that’s normal teenage stuff.’ But as time progressed, something else wasn’t right here.”
With the help of a nurse practitioner in Newbury, Jacob was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder and admitted to a London hospital for treatment.
That was in 2004.
Today, Jacob is doing well, leading a productive life.
Now, his father wants to bring awareness — and raise money — for Search community mental health services in Strathroy by kicking off an 1,800-kilometre Run 4 Rural Mental Health from Strathroy to Miramichi, N.B., Sunday.
“If we can raise some money and awareness so that people who need the help will pick the phone up and pursue the help and when they decide that, the services will be there that they need,” said Kerrigan.
Funds raised will go toward funding services at Search, such as the crisis response service, said Vicky Stevens, the organization’s executive director.
Stevens said one in five children and youth have some type of mental health problem but only one in six get the help they need. A marked drop in school performance or attendance; changes in sleeping patterns; physical complaints; opposition to authority, theft or vandalism; depression, negative moods and attitudes; angry outbursts and a marked personality change are all signs parents should look for in their teens, said Stevens.