High School Mental Health

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The frequency of mental illness in adolescence has skyrocketed. Perhaps it's anxiety from an overwhelming influx of schoolwork, or an eating disorder influenced by societal pressures and surging hormones. One thing is certain, however, high school is a vital time to address mental illness and offer a helping hand. Even though the subject of mental illness is more talked about recently, high schools are still lacking the proper mental health resources to help those who need it.

Part of that problem comes from the lasting stigma behind mental illness. While clubs such as National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and movements like Smile Week seek to reverse this stigma, a lack of education about how someone could help or be helped with mental illness remains.

Resources for students struggling with mental illness remains limited. Students are required to complete certain hearing and vision tests, but nowhere is mental illness even considered. It is often made to seem as if physical disabilities are the lone reason for intellectual difficulties, leaving out accessible mental health resources.

Compared to previous years, mental health resource accessibility has greatly increased and given more students the ability to get the help they need. There is a school psychologist, Dollen Azzam, available on campus as well as additional resources that are readily available to students seeking help. Nowadays, many students at Kennedy feel as if they have much better resources than they previously did.

“Recently they're doing a good job with resources,” junior Reyna Ontiveros said.

In theory students have the available resources on campus to combat mental illness, but more awareness is needed.

“I never thought that we had mental health resources until I found out we had a school psychologist,” senior Shayla Steinhebel said.

If schools wish to truly be a provider of mental health resources then they must make sure that students are aware of the resources available to them. It is not enough for the resources to simply exist, students must be aware.