Tasha Schuh nearly gave up on life in as a teenager.
An accident while practicing for a high school musical rendered her then as a paraplegic. A trap door of the stage quickly opened with little warning, and Tasha fell 16 feet onto to a cement floor and broke her neck.
In the hospital afterwards, she lapsed into a coma for eight days, and when she awoke, she learned doctors had thought she may not live.
During the Jan. 14 Waunakee Rotary Club meeting, Tasha told the club she then realized her life had a purpose.
Still, when she returned home from the hospital, she struggled with depression and suicide ideation. She then began a journey overcoming this through resilience.
Today, she loves her life and she has learned the importance of mental health. She began sharing her story and received the National Rehabilitation Champion Award and a Hometown Hero award.
More than 23 years since the accident, Tasha remains in a wheelchair, but she has earned two bachelor’s degrees, written books and developed a mental health curriculum for middle and high schools.
Tasha and her husband are passionate about mental health and suicide prevention and have been since her best friend from high school lost her son to suicide.
“I’m still so devastated by this,” Tasha said. She said she knew how the young man felt, but she had persevered. And she knew her friend’s son would never have the opportunity to achieve what she had.
Tasha and her husband wanted to be part of the solution. They began talking to high school students, and from the messages she received after those talks, she saw students were struggling with suicide and suicide ideation.
Sharing statistics, Tasha said suicide was one of the leading causes of death in 2018, when 1.4 million Americans attempted to end their lives and 44,344 died. And from 2012 to 2015, the number of suicides increased by as much as 59% in some states.
The curriculum Tasha, her husband, and countless contributors developed is called PATH: Building Resilience for Mental Health and Suicide Awareness. PATH is an acronym is for Purpose, Attitude, Team and Hope.
Sharing those attributes with students is impossible in a 45-minute talk or assembly, and this curriculum goes deeper, giving young people the tools to be successful, Tasha said.
She believes nothing else builds on resilience, she added. PATH is also certified by the Suicide Awareness Voices of Education and is recommended by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Tasha said resilience needs to be taught as part the middle and high school curriculum, and PATH offers both videos and handouts for teachers. She called it easy to use, designed like a “paint by numbers.”
“Any teacher can be teaching it; it doesn’t need to be a school counselor,” she said, adding it takes 15 of prep time or less.
Teachers can also use the curriculum’s strategies and activities to get students reflecting and absorbing the material.
The curriculum is offered at a reduced cost, making it accessible to most districts, and includes no annual renewal fee.
In other news:
-A window of one of the trailers used to store Rotary Lights equipment was repaired by Duane Statz from the Waunakee Village Center – at no cost – Phil Willems reported. Snow is no longer falling in. Kudos to Duane!
-Tom Kennedy reported that progress is continuing on the Village Center Pier Pond, thanks to Ray Statz and the Rotary volunteers.
-Tom wished happy birthday to all those celebrating, including Taylor Endres, whose treatment is going well. He and club wished Taylor all the best.
-Rotary Lights has concluded, and this has been the vest year in terms of donations. A great group of volunteers helped load the lights onto the trailers where they will be stored until next holiday season.
Birthdays: Jan. 18, Rich Harris; Jan. 26, Joseph Baer; Jan. 26, Mark McFarland; Jan. 27, Pat Durden.
Anniversaries: None.
