Mental health awareness week is in October but there’s never a wrong time to talk about mental health awareness. Teenagers everywhere struggle with mental health and it’s not spoken about enough. Timber Creek offers things on campus such as the safe office as a safe place to talk about whatever’s on your mind. Many teachers are also open to talking or being a helping hand. Junior Jordyn Gass believes that something more needs to happen to create change. “I feel like there’s not much the school itself can do to raise awareness about mental health and bigger societal changes have to happen for things to change,” said Gass. Gass also spoke on the fact of how mental health is overlooked. “A lot of people don’t feel comfortable talking about their feelings and just like to be alone but we can’t just leave class because then we’re at risk of getting a detention or a referral for ‘skipping class’. I think something should be done because school is very stressful and I don’t think people realize how much it affects our mental health,” said Gass. Mental health is relevant everywhere and affects many people. We’re never going to know who struggles internally just by looking at them. That’s what makes it so unique: you can’t see it. With physical illness you can clearly see what the issue is, with mental illnesses you cannot. This might be a reason why it is not taken as seriously.
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of American (AADA), anxiety affects 6.8 million adults in the United States. Anxiety disorders are very common and highly treatable. It is also not unusual to see people have anxiety along with depression. “322 million people worldwide live with depression” is the first thing you see on the ADAA article about depression. Along with this, depression is the leading cause of disability in the United States among people ages 15-44 (ADAA). Junior Ashley Ithau suggests to have a full time counselor on campus. “I think there should be some kind of therapist on school campus at all times. I feel as though since we spend most of our days on school campus, if somebody really needed to talk to someone, they could have the peace of mind of knowing that there’s someone professional to talk to during the day. This could help people who don’t have access to those types of things financially, culturally, etc.,” said Ithau. Ithau also suggests that the resources Timber Creek does provide should be broadcasted more. Such as promoting the safe office on the morning announcements, “The school can talk about mental health in their morning segments and making it known that there is a safe office and what it’s for,” said Ithau.
There is never a wrong time to talk about mental health awareness and it can all start with just one person. Teenagers and adults everywhere struggle mentally no matter how big or small. It is important to not dismiss mental illness just because you can’t see it; it is just as prominent as physical illness. It’s time to put a positive outlook on mental illness and also bring positive results by helping teenagers, especially today’s students, with their mental illnesses. You are worthy and you are never alone!
