Members of Dartmouth High School and the Youth Commision gathered on Monday night to let parents know that if their teens are suffering from depression, they're not alone.

The Youth Commission's parents series kicked off on Feb. 1 with a talk regarding depression, anxiety and suicide prevention. The event, held at the Dartmouth High School Media Center, was attended by Dartmouth High principal John Gould, Youth Advocate Jen Cabral, school guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists and parents and relatives.

“I’m here to be supportive of this initiative,” said Gould. “It's a great partnership."

It's normal and even typical for teenagers to have periods of depression. Social worker Kristianna Fontes described depression as "beyond the typical teenage moodiness" with periods of depression that last two weeks or longer.

Signs of depression include withdrawal from friends and hobbies, weight gain or loss, sleep pattern disruption, feelings of worthlessness, concentration problems and more overt signs such as self harm and morbid plans.

Risk factors that predispose people to depression include a family history of depression, life events, abuse or neglect, witnessing domestic violence, bereavement, lack of social support, struggles with sexual orientation and drug use, which can cause depression or can be used to self medicate while depressed.

With the help of the Youth Commission,  the high school has successfully implemented a "signs of suicide" program, which helps students identify the warning signs of depression in themselves and others, in tenth grade health class. The program is set to be introduced to the health classes at Dartmouth Middle School as well. The goal is to be able to assess all 10th graders and have every eighth grader undergo the signs of suicide program so they’ll understand how to access support.

Since the implementation of the "signs of suicide" into the curriculum, Cabral said that students seem to be more willing to have conversations about their mental state.

School social worker Cathy Thomas reminded attendee is that Dartmouth High Shool is staffed with "master level clinicians" who can work with students and can help teachers accommodate their needs. Guidance counselors in particular are some of the a few staff members that students will have from the beginning of their stay at Dartmouth High until graduation.

"The more information we have, the better able we are able to service your child," said guidance counselor Alyssa Fitzgerald. "We don't create an environment where people don't succeed."

Parents with concerns are encouraged to come right to the school with their problems. Someone should be available to speak to them at all hours of the school day.

“Yes, children have anxiety, but parents have anxiety times two,” Gould said.

Attendees’ biggest concern was creating a dialogue between the school and the parents and children. Some students have certain needs that, while minor, better enable them to make it through the day, like doodling, wearing a comfort item and other such innocuous habits. Other issues dealt with common stressors like MCAS testing and the lengthy class periods, which clock in at 86 minutes.

“It's just the way some kids are wired,” Gould said. “Sometimes we have to remind adults in the conversation that ‘this is who my child is.'"

"It's okay to be a work in progress," Fitzgerald said.

There are various other tools in town to help families during tough times as well. Healthy Dartmouth is a collaboration between school and town officials to enhance the mental health of youths K-12. In the future, the Youth Commission and Healthy Dartmouth are hoping to launch a suicide prevention task force.

“We want to destigmatize mental health,” Cabral said. “The more we talk about it, the more we destigmatize it.”

Attendees were very satisfied with the information they gleaned from the session.

“If this was a thing when I was younger, a lot of things would be different,” a young woman in attendance said.” I'm really proud."

The next parent series talk will be held on March 14. The topic will be college readiness.