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Foundation offers beacon of hope to depressed teenagers ■ by sheryl devore Erika’s Lighthouse Foundation began 10 years ago as a way for friends and family to grieve the loss of a 14-year-old girl from Winnetka who suffered from depression. Tom and Ginny Neuckranz’s daughter, Erika, took her life. Grief stricken, family and friends wanted to know more about the disease and to educate others. Friends helped the family create the foundation while Erika’s friends started the Erika’s Lighthouse Club at New Trier High School. “It was a real collaboration between all ages,” Ginny Neuckranz says. “These students were surprised that someone could die from [depression], and they wanted to learn about it and then they wanted to share it with their friends.” They gave panel presentations and sponsored mental health days at school. Since its founding, Erika’s Lighthouse volunteers and staff have given presentations about depression at 54 schools, and online curriculum and videos have been downloaded in 34 states. Today, through education, Erika’s Lighthouse is paving the way to remove the stigma and mystery behind major depression in teenagers. The foundation works to educate others about a disease that afflicts about 8 percent of teens in the United States, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Neuckranz wants parents, teachers and students to understand that depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain, just like diabetes is an imbalance in the amount of insulin present in the body. “We started the non-profit for Erika, but I want it to be for the kids who are living now,” she says.
The foundation visits schools to talk about the disease to staff and students. “We show them what depression looks like, what treatment looks like and how to help their friends. It’s taking the stigma away,” she says. “We’re telling kids it isn’t something to be afraid of. This is an illness. You can get treated, and you can get better.” Exercising, taking medication, getting counseling, talking with friends and family, doing something you love, eating right, getting enough sleep — these are all ways for teens to combat depression, Neuckranz says. Erika’s Lighthouse Executive Director Peggy Kubert says Neuckranz has “made a huge difference” helping others to understand depression in teens. “We get testimonials saying our programs have saved lives,” says Kubert, a licensed clinical social worker. “Ginny and her husband Tom are extremely strong individuals. I’ve often said I don’t know of many people who could do what this family did — to be able to start the foundation and to really have it be strong, to start out after a loss and still be here 10 years later. “Ginny has always been very clearly focused on what our mission is — it’s always been about depression awareness and encouraging good mental health. Ginny and the board intuitively knew that they wanted to approach this from the depression awareness path, rather than suicide prevention.” Neuckranz notes a senior at a local high school recently watched a video produced by Erika’s Lighthouse. He later told a school counselor he was concerned about his friend because she was showing symptoms he had learned about on the video of depression. Now
photography by joel lerner
Ginny Neuckranz
that friend can get help, Neuckranz says. In the next 10 years, Neuckranz hopes Erika’s Lighthouse can expand its programs to reach even more young people. She’s also excited about recent research being done by a professor at Loyola University to “show
that what we’re doing makes a difference.” Erika’s Lighthouse is holding a 10th anniversary gala at 6:30 p.m., May 3 at Michigan Shores Country Club in Wilmette. For more information, visit www.erikaslighthouse.org. ■
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