We need to demand more for mental health.
As I scroll through my TikTok For You page, I see a huge amount of people who are struggling, feeling like they have no one to talk to, so they have to come to the internet, where they might find people who relate to them. They do not have the resources in real life and even if they do, they do not feel like they have someone they can trust and talk to.
Some do not even know what mental health is. Mental health is a state of mental well being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, work well, and contribute to their community.
Many don’t realize that people are struggling around them. According to New Roads, 1 in 5 Americans experience some sort of mental health struggle. That’s around 69.2 million people. Think about this statistic like this, think about a full stadium of people at MetLife, which is the largest football stadium in the USA. It holds just over 82k people. Now multiply that number by 843. That is so many people. People do not realize how bad it is getting.
Coming from a current high school student, I am constantly feeling the pressure to be perfect and do everything right. This causes so much stress, which ends up in a spiral. Many students can relate to this.
Also, with the pressure, you have to add in the school work we have to complete, and it can cause students to just shut down and not have any motivation. People often feel trapped, and they are not doing enough to impress people.
Signs are often noticeable, but people either tend to miss this completely, or just not know what to do, so they ignore it. Some signs that you could lookout for are: withdrawal from friends and activities, feelings of sadness or down, reduced ability to concentrate, and constant tiredness. Sometimes people do not even show any signs, so it is important to always check up on your loved ones. You never know what anyone is going through.
There have been many mental health organizations started to help raise awareness for mental health; however, we need more that can extend to more areas, and that are more affordable. Mental health care is increasingly getting more and more expensive, with expenses reaching up to over thousands of dollars. If we had more accessible and affordable mental health care, the rates of suicide would drop dramatically.
Many think suicide is the only answer they have because they do not have these resources. With the expansion of more resources this could help with the ongoing issue.
At Sutton High School, we have mental health week in May, which our CSL (Community Service Learning) Club runs. As a member of CSL, I can say this has honestly been so helpful due to May being the end of the year, so that means finals coming up. I think every school should implement this somehow.
CSL Club also runs the “Walk Out of Darkness”, which is our main part of mental health week. This is to raise awareness for suicide prevention. Everyone comes together to make sure people know they are not alone.
Unfortunately, not everything ends in a happy ending. This is why we need to demand more for mental health. Suicide is a huge problem and always has been, and its time we put a stop to people feeling like they do not matter.
