October 10 is World Mental Health Day. Around the globe, we will see campaigns encouraging people to talk more openly about mental health and to break the stigma. These messages matter. But for our children here in Bermuda, awareness on its own will never be enough. They need us to move beyond slogans and step into action.

If we pause long enough to really listen, their voices are clear:

“When my parents fight, I pretend I don’t hear it. But I can’t stop shaking.”

“When my dad went to prison, no one asked how I was doing. I just stopped talking.”

“When they shared my picture online, I didn’t want to go back to school. I wanted to disappear.”

“When the bullying got too much, I told a teacher. They said I was overreacting.”

These are not isolated stories. They are the lived realities of too many children and teens across our island. Behind the smiles and uniforms are young people carrying experiences that would overwhelm many adults: parental separation, exposure to domestic violence, parental incarceration, cyberbullying, revenge porn, community violence.

We need to understand what research has shown again and again, as these experiences don’t just fade with time. They shape how a child sees the world, their sense of safety, their ability to trust, and their mental health. And when adversities pile up, the risks multiply: higher chances of depression, anxiety, self-harm, substance use and disengagement from school.

But perhaps what we miss most are the big emotions underneath it all — anger, grief, shame, fear, loneliness. Children feel these emotions deeply, but too often they are told to “toughen up”, “stop overreacting” or “get over it.” When that happens, we fail them twice: first when they endure the adversity, and again when we dismiss their feelings as if they don’t matter.

This is why awareness days cannot be just about ribbons and hashtags. They must be about honesty and change. Because the truth is that children are already telling us what they need in their behaviour, in their silence, in their struggles. Our role as adults is to stop ignoring the message and to start responding.

What does that look like?

It looks like creating safe spaces where children and teens can share what they are going through without fear of judgment.

It looks like equipping parents, teachers and mentors to listen with empathy and to validate emotions rather than shutting them down.

It looks like making mental health support truly accessible, so that when a child says, “I need help,” they actually receive it.

And it looks like policies and community programmes that prevent harm before it starts, not after the damage is already done.

At Simply Bloom, this is the work we are committed to — ensuring that children and families in Bermuda have access to the understanding, education and resources they need. Because we know that when children are heard and supported, they don’t just survive their challenges, they begin to thrive.

This World Mental Health Day, let’s go farther than awareness. Let’s acknowledge the real adversities our children are carrying. Let’s honour their voices, their emotions and their truths. And when they ask us, “Do you see me? Do you hear me? Will you help me?” let’s make sure our answer is yes.

• Chardonaé Rawlins is a child and adolescent mental health specialist, and the founder of Simply Bloom Bermuda, which is dedicated to advancing child and adolescent mental health through education, advocacy and community partnerships. To learn more about trauma-informed and whole child approaches, visit www.simplybloombda.com, follow @simply.bloombda on Instagram or e-mail: info@simplybloombda.com