High school can be scary, especially on the first day. The nerves of being in a new building, with new classes, and new people can definitely add up.
For *William Johnson, who suffers from PTSD, the first day of high school meant leaving the comfort and safety of his middle school counselor and finding a new support system at Prospect, a place where he didn’t know anyone.
I mean, imagine going into a new school and having to go through the process of getting to trust and open up to a whole new person whom you barely know. That takes courage, to say the least.
“Talking about having PTSD…that was something that was so hard for me to open up to adults about,” said Johnson.
Now, these struggles with mental health aren’t reserved for just a few “unlucky” teens in the world. Out of approximately 25.8 million teens in the world, 7.7 million of them struggle with their mental health. And these are just the teens who don’t go undiagnosed!
In fact, teens who are undiagnosed may stay undiagnosed for 11 years before seeking treatment. This begs the question: how is this possible? Well, it’s like being injured and just enduring life with it, because it feels like there’s nothing you can do and you think that it’s not bad enough to seek help.
Unfortunately, poor mental health won’t — according to Mayo Clinic —— improve on its own; in fact, it may actually get worse.
This is not how anyone should live. People deserve the right to live a life that they want to without being weighed down by their mental health.
Fortunately, according to the National Alliance on Mental Health, 51% of minors ages 6 to 17 receive treatment in a year. I wish that this percentage was higher, but it should make us happy to know that some are getting support for their struggles. At the same time, it is saddening, because what about everyone else?
At Prospect High School, everyone can get the support they need. In fact, Prospect supports its students from the very first day of school.
“[The focus] is recognizing [student] needs, but then providing the skills and strategies to students so that they can help manage their own needs and help support themselves to be independent,” said Associate Principal of Students Services Mary Kate Smith.
These skills and strategies are provided to students through a variety of programs such as Supporting U, which is a freshman service that promotes belonging and empowerment during freshman study halls.
Signs of Sucide is another in-class program that brings awareness to the warning signs of suicide.
One of the most vital resources for mental health are the counselors, social workers and psychologists that can be found in the Student Services office. Smith assures students that the counselors will try their very best to support them in any way possible. In fact, a simple conversation with a counselor can open opportunities for more in-depth services.
Some of these resources include a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) group that focuses on emotion regulation, stress management and mindfulness.
Other resources are Care Solace and Ascension, which are both outside organizations where counselors can refer students to and where they will be matched with a local therapist outside of school.
If I’m being totally honest right now, I had absolutely no idea that any of these services existed. I have never seen any of this information around Prospect before. Not on signs or posters, not through in-class presentations, nothing. Maybe this is why — in a KnightMedia survey of 284 Prospect students — 82.1% of students have not sought out Prospect’s mental health services. Maybe they didn’t know any of it was out there.
I mean, there’s got to be a better way to inform students about the services that their school offers. It doesn’t need to be a flashing sign in people’s faces either, because that takes away from the seriousness of it.
A simple and easy solution would be to put a teeny-tiny overview of this information (specifically services that involve the counselors, social workers and psychologists) in the daily announcements; but then again, who really pays attention to the announcements every day?
Or — hear me out, guys — at the end of each quarter, when students feel the most burnt out, Prospect reminds its students that support is available in the Student Services Office if they need it. I guess it would be like a little “check-in” announcement.
Prospect students need to know that they are not alone here at Prospect in whatever they are going through. The school has to spread more awareness about these services so students at least have the opportunity to help themselves.
Speaking of awareness, UKnight for Minds is a club that acknowledges students’ mental health needs. UKnight for Minds members and club sponsor Chantel Smith plan activities to share that awareness to the whole school.
“A typical meeting involves us talking about what’s the need within the student population … And what [we can] do to reduce stigma around those topics … What [we can] do to educate students but not encourage self-diagnosis. Sometimes, it’s making posters or … events [in school],” said Chantel Smith.
The most recent event that UKnight for Minds had was during finals week last semester, where they brought comfort dogs in to help reduce student stress levels.
Chantel Smith stresses the importance of creating a sense of belonging in UKnight for Minds, because mental health is a sensitive subject and has a level of stigma around it. She encourages her club members to have empathy for others because they never truly know what other people go through.
Johnson found out about Prospect’s mental health services (specifically the counselors) through discussions with his middle school counselor.
On his very first day at Prospect and over the course of his freshman year, Johnson connected with his now-former counselor, Colleen Carroll, and “scouted out” other safe adults with whom he would be able to talk.
The resources he has found to be the most valuable are just having a safe space to talk and voice his thoughts, and knowing that the counselors, social workers and psychologists actually care about their students’ wellbeing.
According to Johnson, Prospect’s services have dramatically improved his quality of learning in the classroom because he was able to find the courage to open up to his teachers and receive support.
“I had this new level of trust with these people…I respected them on such a deep level and I knew they respected me too,” said Johnson, “That mutual respect was what made me trust them so much and made me feel comfortable.”
Respect and trust is at the heart of Prospect’s mental health services. Every student is welcomed and supported by their team of counselors, psychologists, and social workers.
Why shouldn’t every student at Prospect be informed of these services and be able to receive the benefits? Everyone deserves help and guidance no matter who they are or what they go through. Although every student’s situation may be different, no one is ever alone.
The first step to getting the support you need is reaching out. The first step is knowing that support is out there for you whenever you need it.
“Being at Prospect has shown me that you aren’t the only one that deals with these things,” said Johnson, “These people care about you —they don’t want to see you crying in your chair — they want to know how they can help you.”
