Mental Health

AHS Social Worker Laura MitchellMorton has noticed from the last two years that mental health resources have been more difficult to access. Student needs have gone up, which makes it harder to meet demands.

“I think students are struggling with addressing their mental health in March 2022, I think mental health is something that is always a challenge for students. The good thing about right now, people are able to be at school in person, interact with people in person. In March 2020 it was difficult because students were at home and they were harder to reach. There is also a lot of stress that comes with students being home for that amount of time.” Mitchell-Morton Said.

We gave a survey to 124 students here at AHS, 93% of students stated that they have not used the mental health resources. 35% stated that they were not aware of mental health resources, and another 35% stated that they were aware. 26% of students stated that their mental health has gotten worse since inperson school has started, 35% stated that their mental health had stayed the same, and 40% of students stated that their mental health had gotten better. 56% of students said that they could trust one adult on campus, and 20% said that they couldn’t. 49% of students claimed that AHS could do a better job of providing mental health resources. Over the years, AHS has had various mental health resources such as the wellness center, counselors, and therapists but have been difficult to keep open due to high demand.

Assistant Principal Nicole Sandoval said that in the last two years AHS has tried to get groups developed to help with stress and anxiety. She also stated that the staff have been exploring trauma-informed practices.

“In the last two years we have tried to get more groups going for topics like stress management or dealing with anxiety. We have the Wellness Center open 3 afternoons a week with a social-worker intern. This year the staff has been exploring trauma-informed practices with an emphasis on building relationships so that they can hopefully be a more immediate support for students as well.” Sandoval said. Sandoval also stated that the reason why students might struggle with opening up about their mental health is because it is not something that is easy to treat, since it can easily go unnoticed.

“Students struggle with opening up about their mental health because it’s hard to treat, Like you just feel like you’re in a funk or you don’t know what’s wrong. I think it’s because it’s hard to see, which makes it harder to deal with and recognize.” Sandoval said.

Like Sandoval implied, students not being able to open up about their mental health is such a large issue because that puts the student in danger if they really need help.

Junior Erica Baeza is concerned about the lack of resources at AHS for students who are struggling with their mental health. She believes that more resources could go a long way.

“I really think we need more mental health resources here at school because outside of school, therapy can be really expensive if you don’t have insurance. ” Baeza said.

Mitchell-Morton also recognized that we do need more mental health resources here at AHS since resources can be hard to access outside of school.

“I think we can always do more to help students access mental health resources, the challenge right now is the demand for mental health support and therapy that a lot places have waitlists.” Mitchell-Morton said.

Sandoval suggests that there should be structure built into the school day to help students with their mental health.

“There needs to be more things built into the day, Like maybe if more teachers were aware of strategies to help a stressful situation, that might help. I always think we need more resources here at AHS.” Sandoval said.

Erica Baeza encouraged that the school should put in a system where students are able to support other students who are struggling with their mental health.

“I think if we could have this group like, support system, for kids on kids, not just the wellness-center. Our freshman year we had this group called ‘Angels’, it was run by the future academy, So if we had an issue or if we were going through something or if we just needed to rant we would go to that group. If it was a serious case they would involve social workers and give us the necessary information for a therapist.” Baeza said.

Sandoval advised that we [ AHS ] just need to talk about mental health more, to normalize and make a safe space to talk about mental health struggles. This year, The school has been talking about educating the teachers to help those who are struggling with their mental health.

“I think we just need to talk about it [ Mental Health ], and destigmatize it. I think it would be helpful to empower students to recognize the signs, to help each other out and talk to each other more.” Sandoval said. “I think we should try keeping the wellness center open all the time. This year, we’ve been talking to teachers about trauma-informed practices, that’s something I think we should keep doing, like educating the staff on how to recognize signs and create safe spaces. I think that’s some of the work that we still have to do.”

Mitchell-Morton stated that she and Rebecca Galicia, a social work intern, have been trying to spread the word to students so that they are aware of mental health resources that are available on campus through fliers. She also claimed that they are in the process of starting some small socio- emotional groups.

Sandoval is confident that this generation is better at discussing their mental health and that is a sign of growth for the future.

“I think your generation [ Gen Z ] is 100% more open and understanding about mental health. I even notice it with my little kids, he talks about his breathing tool. It’s a sign of growth and it gives hope.” Sandoval said.