By Cecilia Bahnson Being a student is hard work. We spend a huge chunk of the week at school, in class, and working on homework. On top of that, we juggle sports, extracurriculars, friends, family, relationships, and the pressures of growing and stepping up into an uncertain future. It gets a little rough sometimes, to say the least. In fact, student mental health as a topic deserves a lot more attention than it currently gets, and the lack of awareness around the struggles that so many young people face is a serious issue. Navigating things like anxiety, depression, burnout, and the pressure to look and act a certain way can have a huge negative impact on a student’s ability to meet academic expectations. Additionally, experiencing these things early-on without support can also affect a person’s future, as well as their overall mental and physical wellbeing. Struggling with mental health is not uncommon, but because of the stigma around it people often feel alone in their experiences. According to 2019 data, 9.4% of children (6.1 million) ages 3-17 have been diagnosed with ADHD, 7.1% of children (4.4 million) have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and 3.2% of children (1.9 million) have been diagnosed with depression. These statistics have risen considerably in the past decade, and one of the reasons for this is the lack of accessible mental health resources in our schools. It is important to remember, however, that you do not need to have a diagnosis for your mental health challenges and experiences to be valid and deserving of support and attention. This mental health “crisis”, as some researchers are calling it, could be spurred by a variety of different things, including pressure to succeed academically and athletically. Students are expected to do and learn as much as possible in a short amount of time. In addition to that pressure to succeed, the way schools normally test and evaluate students’ competency are not always accurate indicators of each individual's true capabilities. High school students are also at the age where the press of the future is beginning to loom closer and closer. We start thinking about colleges, career paths, and entering the workforce-- which brings up a whole other stressor. Money. Finances. Finding a job, budgets, taxes, supporting yourself. It’s difficult to heap all of that on top of the already-enormous stack of schoolwork, practices, college applications, relationships, etc., especially considering our bodies, minds, and sense of self are still growing and changing and demanding our attention. All of these things can be (and usually are) very overwhelming, and it’s easy to forget to take care of yourself. Even more so when you feel alone or adrift. We already know that many students are struggling with mental health on their own, without support. Most schools do have resources for mental health, but the majority of students who need that support either choose not to, don’t feel comfortable with, or do not have the ability to utilize school resources. We should be wondering why that is, and what we can do to make mental health support more accessible. But, the first question we should be asking is “what mental health resources DO we have in our schools?” The most well-known and accessible resources are our school counselors. Our counselors provide academic and career guidance as well as personal and social support, and while that support is excellent, there are many different factors that may prevent students from reaching out to their school counselor as a mental health resource. For example, at Crescent Valley we have three counselors and somewhere well over 1,000 students. This can make it difficult to meet with your counselor on short notice, and many students have never actually spoken to their counselor personally. It can also sometimes feel awkward to speak with an adult about issues that are more related to being a student and a teenager. That’s not to say that our counselors aren’t fabulous and meaningful resources-- but the help they offer may not be what everyone needs or feels comfortable with at any given time. Other resources that we have include teachers, nurses, and social workers, but the challenge of accessibility and relatability still remains, as well as the stigma around mental health which can make students apprehensive about reaching out. So, what’s the solution? Unfortunately, dealing with mental health is a little more complicated than that. We can’t just “solve” the issue of mental health because there are so many different layers to it, and so many different experiences and challenges that cannot and should not be addressed all in the same way. However, there are some things we can do to make it easier for people to reach out, decrease stigma, and learn to cope and heal in healthy ways. One thing that would be extremely helpful would be to incorporate better mental health education into our school curriculum. We could help students throughout the day by learning coping techniques and self-care practices, and we could even prevent harmful incidents by learning the signs and symptoms of someone who may be struggling a lot or is in a mentally difficult situation. What’s more, by having conversations and learning about mental health we can combat the false idea that talking about mental health is shameful or weak-- we can work towards ending the stigma. Another thing that we as students can do to support our own mental health is to make self-care a priority, or at least check in with ourselves for a couple of minutes every once in a while. It can be difficult, but taking care of yourself is extremely important and can impact everything from sports and academics to your relationship with yourself and others. This could mean taking a break, a snack, a hike, a shower, or whatever you need to do in order to feel good. Recently, a group of students here at Crescent Valley, led by Charlie Hathaway, noticed and began taking actions to address the issue of mental health at our school. We now have the CVHS SAM Club, also known as Student Advocates for Mental Health. The SAM Club works to support, educate, and be an accessible student-led mental health resource for the CVHS student body. Right now, SAM mainly operates through Instagram under the username samclub_cvhs, and this page serves as a home-base for “all things education, inspiration, coping, and self-care.” The club also offers confidential peer-to-peer support for any and all students through the samclub_cvhs direct messaging system. There are many different things we can do to improve student mental health, and while having structured support systems and mental health education is extremely important, it's also important to take time to check in with yourself. You know yourself and your needs better than anyone else, and your story deserves to be heard. Sources Anderson, Meg, and Kavitha Cardoza. “Mental Health In Schools: A Hidden Crisis Affecting Millions Of Students.” NPR, NPR, 31 Aug. 2016, www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/08/31/464727159/mental-health-in-schools-a-hidden-crisis-affecting-millions-of-students “Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 Mar. 2021, www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.htm Hippe, Hannah, and Author Hannah Hippe. “Why Mental Health Should Be Taught in School.” Nystrom & Associates, 7 Dec. 2020, www.nystromcounseling.com/mental-health/why-mental-health-should-be-taught-in-school/ The Light Program. “The College Student Mental Health Crisis.” The Light Program, 17 Nov. 2020, https://thelightprogram.pyramidhealthcarepa.com/the-college-student-mental-health-crisis/#:~:text=What%20is%20causing%20the%20college,less%20stigma%20around%20seeking%20help Image source: Photo by Polina Zimmerman from Pexels
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