I Am a Teen With Depression

I'm 15 and I suffer from depression; won't get help because getting help means it going on my record that I've got depression and that'll cost me jobs. My mental health has, like anything else it's ups and downs, and luckily I've been having an up recently. My life isn't terrible, I have a boyfriend, I have some friends, I'm smart and do well in school, and I have a great job at a Boys and Girls Club with some of the best kids in the world.

One of the kids I work with, a twelve-year-old kid, just told me today that he's suffering from depression as well. We were sitting on a play structure in a park, and I had mentioned having a hard time with life, I guess, and he started opening up to me about having to deal with depression and suicidal thoughts since he was a little kid. I told him about my struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts, we talked about self harm (me, stomach and wrist, him, upper arm and back of the leg) and he talked about his anger issues, which were similar to ones I had when I was younger.

This kid told his (now ex) girlfriend about his depression a little after we talked, cause he's actually had a breakdown after he got startled, panicked, and then got angry and nearly threw a shoe at my supervisor (poor boy scares himself) and instead of being sympathetic, or even just being mildly confused but supportive of him, she dumped him and told a bunch of the other kids that he was depressed.

I actually had to explain to a group of kids, who were understandable worried about him and asked "is he still depressed?" that depression, especially for people like him, is lifelong, that he's not going to get better just like that, and that it's not a temporary thing. It's not his fault, it's not anyone's fault, it's just that he has a problem with his brain, like my supervisor has problems with his eyes, or one of the girls has problems with her ears.