Although Mental Health Awareness Month begins on May 1, guidance counselors recommend that students should be aware of how mental health can affect people’s everyday life throughout the year.
Guidance counselor Daniel Glatts says that not only counselors but also athletes and staff have grown in awareness, which is needed.
“Awareness of mental health has become much more recognized than in the past so this month is huge because it’s acknowledged more broadly,” Glatts said.
The high school has resources that can reach out and help students. At the nurses office and the counselors office there are resources with information on talk lines such as teent@lkline, suicide prevention lifeline, and Student Assistance Team. They are available for those who need them or for those with a friend or family member who needs them.
“We try to always be welcoming to students so they know they can come down here and talk to us and trust us if they need to talk to somebody,” school nurse Jen Kaufman said.
School psychologist Kenneth Cuomo says he works with students individually. He tries to foster a sense of resiliency in students because he thinks there are different strategies and tips to help different kids.
“When we talk about mental health and wellness, specifically we are looking at physical wellness, spiritual wellness, emotional wellness and there’s a number of different things that go into that,” Cuomo said. “It’s really about trying to find what works for the individual.”
A student who requested anonymity said that she was sent to guidance after other students noticed her hurting herself. She talked with Glatts and he asked her permission to call her parents. Now she talks with Glatts often to find ways for her to “cope.”
“ You don’t really realize it’s ok to get help until you’re actually down there. At first I was like, ’Oh, this is embarrassing. I don’t want anyone to know about this,’ but they are really nice,” the student said.
Mental Health Awareness Month, according to youth.gov, was established in 1949 to increase awareness of the importance of mental health and wellness in Americans’ lives, and to celebrate recovery from mental illness.