By Victoria Ratto, Staff Writer
A global teen epidemic, students with mental health conditions struggle to receive the education they deserve. Struggle to maintain a health emotional and mental wellbeing in a high “pressure cooker” environment has been approached by numerous initiatives as the poor mental health students has been detrimental to school communities. Given modern day expectations for youth and high-pressure environments surrounding teens, a direct relationship between the increasing number of students affected by mental illness can be seen. In pursuit of raising awareness and providing a better environment, Mills students decided to take matters into their own hands.
Although the acclaimed success of Mills’ first Mental Health Month and Assembly, that included themes of defining the topic to breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health, it was still evident that more should be done. Thus, the Leadership’s Wellness Committee and the mental health clubs on campus—Bring Change 2 Mind and Gay Straight Alliance, to name a few—came together to create a new plan of approach: MHAI.
The Mental Health Advancement Initiative — Mills, abbreviated as MHAI, has become a new collaborative effort between students, administration and faculty, and Bay Area mental health advocates and psychologists to increase mental health awareness and provide more available resources to those with diverse mental health conditions in school and local communities.
Bay Area youth run mental health organizations, such as Safespace, have also contributed to the effort by providing public service announcements that no one is struggling with mental health alone. Dr. Steven Sust of Stanford University School of Medicine and a children’s psychologist, and also was involved at last year’s Mental Health Assembly will also be a part of the initiative. In addition, Mills’ very own wellness counselors, Ben Goltz and Sophia Lu are actively participating in the effort. MHAI also hopes to team up with StarVista, San Mateo County’s local suicide prevention center and hotline, and even more school communities through the district and Bay Area.
Although a collaborative effort, MHAI divides itself into different committees in order ensure the execution of its goals. For example, the School Wide Events Committee, originally led by Leadership last year, will be hosting the second annual Mental Health Assembly and Month, expected to begin on October 22, accumulating to the Mental Health Assembly on October 26, headed by seniors Bryanna Lee, Maddie Hain, and Megan McDaniel, and junior Daniel Xuereb. The Health Presentations committee, led by sophomore Anjuli Niyogi, Leanna Yu, Daphne Situ, and senior Lydia Cheung will be organizing new mental health curriculum in Health classrooms through interactive activities all the while informing primarily freshmen students about available resources. Finally, the Peer Support Committee, headed by seniors Bella Marinos, Rebecca Wong, and juniors Ella Jang and Tiffany Ng, hopes to create a better support system for students who seem marginalized on campus. The committee will seek renovation of Mills’ Wellness Room, along with better access to its doors to ensure students have a private space to destress.
Although there are a variety of reasons why some teens suffer from mental illnesses, however, a major factor is high school itself. Meaning that you are taking a time in a person’s life where they are transitioning into adulthood and putting it in a high-pressure, maximum stress environment and then out into the world. No guidance, no help, just a “figure it out” type of mindset. This type of mindset shouldn’t be enforced or normalized whereas mental health is. It’s pushed to the side unlike this mindset which is embedded into many teens today.
Thus, MHAI is a program that helps raise mental health awareness to one another here at Mills. It has many great factors such as, interpersonal connections between peers, building communities right inside the school, and much more. This could help change kids negative outlooks on school, and change the kids attitudes towards opening up about mental health. MHAI helps express how we shouldn’t just push mental health to the side, or normalize a mindset that is mentally unhealthy. We could create communities, peer relationships, and many life skills that could be used when they do go out in the world, all because of MHAI.
