Mental Health Resources

 Between the ages of 13-19 around 37 percent of high school students have experienced a mental illness of some sort. With students returning to school from the Covid-19 quarantine, it was much higher. According to cdc reports, there has been a 40 percent increase in mental illness in adolescents since 2009.The cause for this increase? Well…There isn’t necessarily one cause of this. Pressures created through the years as well as glamorization of mental illness could be only a few of the reasons. However San Jacinto High School provides informational lessons regarding topics of mental health. But do students find these helpful? Emily Medina, A junior at San Jacinto High Schools said “I think they can be helpful as there is a lot of stigma around mental health especially in families of color, people of color, so if they have the resources at school it could be a lot easier to get help. “Another Junior, Trinity Jones, said “Yeah it can be helpful to students who don’t know how to reach out or don’t have the resources to reach out, The school makes it easy.” Emily Medina agrees. “ Yes they make it pretty available for all the students.” A way that students can cope is using a support system and reaching out to someone. And it does seem that many students have one. Take Emily Medina, who said. “ I believe I have a support system I believe we all do, It’s just scary to reach out but I think it’s there “Trinity Jones responded. “It can be hard to find a support system and to find people who are real and actually care about you, but I do have a support system.” There are other healthy coping skills such as reading, listening to music, writing things down, or anything that makes the mind happy! Students are constantly dealing with things that can bring stress, however with healthy coping skills it could definitely help deal with these emotions! This is Elyza Ponce reporting for Tiger Media Network