The Lack of Mental Health Resources for High School Students

By Taequon Overton

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Mental health is a issue that has been going on for ages, but there isn’t a concrete way to deal with this making it more of a paper issue. High School students suffer as whenever they bring up their mental health issues it is often discredited as being overdramatic diluting their issues. Another issue that they face is not having the necessary resources needed to deal with their mental health such as places to go when seeking help or effectively trained counsellors to speak with.

According to Chandra, A., & Minkovitz, C.S(2006) “Seventy percent of adolescents with mental health needs don’t receive the proper treatment.” There are a lot of people that need help with their mental health but not enough of them are getting treatment needed which leaves a multitude of people having to “deal” with their issues not knowing how to professionally manage.

When asked how has your experience been in this field, Shana Louallen, a social worker at Forsyth Satellite Academy stated she enjoys her job despite it not being immediately rewarding. A downside she brought up was you get a grant which funds your ability to help people but if you're too good at your job they would take the grant away. What does “too good” mean and why should anyone measure that?

According to the US Department of Education the national average of students students with emotional, behavioral & mental health disorders that graduate high school is 76% but only 40% of people actually graduate a 36% difference. This leaves sixty percent of people without a high school diploma whether it be because they couldn't balance their mental health and keeping up with the school work, their mental health got worse, they succumbed to suicide. If students were given more access to resources then that percentage would be higher.

Student’s mental health take a plummet as their issues with mental health affect their ability to operate in a academic environment. Sarah Brading shared a story from one of her friends during her junior year about the aftermath of not being at school for a day, “Her advisor got angry, and began to tell her, "you're just a kid, you cannot have problems, only adults are able to take personal days," and that if she did not show up to school the next day she would be punished for it.” People with mental health issues aren't given opportunities to take time away from classes as their reason for not showing up aren't “valid enough” . Where things should change are stop comparing teenagers to adults because they have seperate lives; situations like this are why people are less willingly to be open about their mental health because it would be used as ammunition to attack them.

Doing research allows one to be informed about mental health compared to their understanding of the basic mental healths. This speak volumes as most people “know” about mental health but the basic knowledge of mental health can add onto stigmas that are already established. Doing research about a topic such as mental health puts into perspective how big of a issue this is, hopefully helping further a solution.