Social worker creates running program for depressed teens

By Staff Writer

Dan McGann coaches a 12-week program that is aimed at helping teenagers deal with depression and anxiety issues. The Toronto City News reports that the social worker founded the Teen Run group therapy program in 2006, after battling depression himself.

When his doctor asked him to recall a time when he felt good about himself, he remembered running when he was a teenager. He now helps young people who are battling mental illness through a running regimen that ends with a community three-mile event. The program operates out of a hospital.

McGann has worked with teens who cut themselves, are suicidal and who have experienced extreme isolation or social anxiety. He says that they have undergone astounding transformations, the news source reports. After conquering incremental physical challenges, they report feeling more self-confident and proud, McGann said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a nationwide survey of students in grades nine through 12 in public and private schools in the U.S. found that 15 percent of students reported seriously considering suicide, 11 percent reported creating a plan, and 7 percent reported trying to take their own life in the 12 months preceding the survey.