Mental Health Awareness by Abigail

Mental Health Awareness by Abigail - February 2022 Scholarship Essay

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed our lives. The pandemic has brought insurmountable levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Bringing in a mental health awareness class to students can teach them how to deal, what signs to look for, and how to ask for help. Many people wonder how long the pandemic will last, what to do when they get sick, or what the future will hold. The added stress and anxiety will get to everyone, and it is terribly unhealthy.
Bringing awareness to classrooms in schools can teach them about mental health, which in time grows their knowledge of mental health. When students learn about proper mental health and get a better understanding of what is really going on, they will feel more compelled to ask for help. Students will essentially become more comfortable. Recently, in my high school, our counselor has been showing these videos each morning during the week on how to reduce our stress and anxiety. Each morning we watch these short videos of deep breathing, guided imagery, and relaxation in the muscles to reduce stress. Simple things like that are great; however, an elective class that could properly teach about mental health would greatly benefit students.
These students would get in-depth experience and knowledge about reducing their feeling of stress, anxiety, or depression. Learning all these tools will help generate better academics, better moods, reduce anxiety and depression, better thinking, and many more. Teenagers in high school go under incredible pressure every day, and it seems that people want to shove it aside because “teenagers should not be stressed about anything. They are still children”. Yes, we are still children, but that does not justify pushing our thoughts and feelings aside because we just haven’t had the experiences other adults have gone through.