Thousands of people across the United States struggle with mental health problems on a day-to-day basis.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately one in every five young adults experiences some form of mental health illness. Whether it’s depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, etc, everybody deserves the choice to speak about their mental health illness and wellness.
The month of May was coined as Mental Health Awareness Month in 1949. The Mental Health of America organization created this to help increase awareness of mental illness/wellness. This organization cultivated its recognized green colored ribbon, which was meant to signify new life, new growth, and new beginnings.
“I’ve been a school psychologist for thirty years, and I’ve seen a spike in mental health awareness in recent years, especially during COVID. The good news is that thirty years ago, nobody was talking about this stuff (mental health); now they’re always talking about it,” FTIS psychologist, Patrick Richardson said.
Some of the most common forms of mental health issues teens tend to struggle with are stress and anxiety. Students can become stressed with overbearing amounts of homework or studying for an upcoming exam. However, stress can be a good thing for teenagers. When students are stressed before an exam, they are more willing to study for it because their brain sees it as important.
With final exams around the corner, students will be struggling the most in April and May, trying to become as prepared as possible. There are strategies that students can use to help ease their anxiety.
“I talk to my close friends and family, and I tell them how I feel because I think it’s best to talk about your feelings rather than bottling them up. I also listen to music that gets my mind off of things, and I go on walks,” Hope Barton (9) said.
Anxiety is high around exam time, but students can also struggle with high amounts of stress and anxiety on a day-to-day basis. Mental health can make it extremely difficult for students to go through everyday life. School is one of the main stressors for teens, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other factors contributing to their mental health issues.
“Mental health impacts my everyday life because I have friends around me who are going through things and myself, mental health makes it difficult for me to do my school work, go out with friends and family, and do things I enjoy because it really takes a toll on your daily life and makes it hard to do the things you love,” Barton said.
When students do have a mental health issue they are struggling with and need to talk to an adult about it, the school has made it easy for students to find someone. Students can set up an appointment with their counselor, or they can talk to someone from the teen mental health help line. These were curated for students who might not have an adult to talk to. This ensures every student has a way to communicate their issues.
“Most of you (students) go to your parents or other family members, but also in our district, we want to make sure that if that’s not the case that we’re here too,” Richardson said.
Students should not feel nervous about going to talk to an adult about their struggles. All staff at Highlands will gladly sit down with any of their students and converse with each other about the help they can receive. Even if students don’t want to talk to their teachers, they can choose to talk to another trusted adult in their life, or students can communicate with their friends about their problems. Every teen universally should have their person they can express their feelings to.
“Every student in our district should be known by someone. If a student has a problem, would they have an adult they would go to? If I can say yes for every 31,000 students in the district, then the probability that we’re going to have really good outcomes is really good,” Richardson said.