Making our community more educated on mental illness could have the greatest impact on mental health.

Many people suffer from mental illness but as a community we need to make a change to market those people that feel that their problems aren’t small and that they are heard. Colorado’s health department reported that in 2013, 24.3% of high school youth felt sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more.

As someone who struggled with anxiety, and knows many more who do, people don’t always know what’s right to say.  Awareness alone helps people to address it well, express care, and help students who suffer with anxiety and depression.

Regis needs to talk about this more publicly, not just one-on-one counseling meetings, in order to provide a truly safe environment for today’s teenagers. 

How can Regis expect us to be academically excellent like the school we claim to be when we aren’t given the proper mental health resources?

Accredited schools state that “Stress and anxiety hinder academic success more than any other non-academic factors. In addition to hurting concentration, both can lead to racing thoughts, poor judgement, and impaired memory.”

Knowing that stress and anxiety can induce so many problems it’s important to understand how to cope and what works for you. 

Regis prides itself on men and women with and for others but how can we be for others when we can’t even be there for ourselves. Our mental health affects all of our relationships and how we act. 

Ed sources state that “Young people’s mental health affects the whole community. Without good mental health, you can’t function, you can’t contribute to society. It affects all of us. This is when we need to be investing more in mental health services, not less.” 

Mental illness is starting to reach kids younger and younger as social media widens as well as societal rules. This will affect our future as well as the future of our children. 

 As a society mental illness can be looked down upon. Our society needs to look at people with mental illness with respect and try to understand their feelings and not invalidate their feelings. 

There are many who believe teaching of mental illness in class will take “too much time” or people using mental illness as an excuse to avoid their  responsibility. 

SEL (Social & Emotional Learning) is a good teaching resource where their teachings find effective ways to present the information that needs to be taught.

In many studies it shows that being more educated and being more of educating yourself on mental health is so important. Being able to feel supported and knowing someone is there for you is so important in a time of loneliness and despair. 

Making our community open to the idea of mental illness and educating ourselves can have a huge impact. Regis prides themselves to be “Men and Women with and for others” but how could we possibly be with and for others when we cant even be there for ourselves first?