On Tuesday, Dec. 23, State High held its third annual Winter Mental Health Summit. In the two-hour-long event that took place during the school day, students could choose to participate in a variety of activities to improve mental health, such as crafts, music and yoga. Students also had the option to simply relax without joining any of the available activities.
Between pressure to maintain standards of high performance, feelings of burnout, and mental illnesses like anxiety and depression, it’s no surprise that student mental health can be dangerously low. According to the CDC, in 2023, 40% of students had persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and 20% of students had seriously considered attempting suicide.
In the face of staggering statistics like these, how much of a difference will two hours dedicated to mental health actually make? Can it even make a dent in the dire situation faced by students?
No, the challenges facing students cannot be solved in two hours of anything. It is simply too significant a problem to be resolved with a snap of the fingers. However, the challenge’s scope does not immediately disregard any effort as useless, no matter how small it may appear.
Therefore, while State High’s Mental Health Summits do not completely resolve the dire student mental health challenges, they support mental health in small but significant ways.
First of all, the Mental Health Summit strengthens connections. Building quality relationships is a crucial facet of mental health, but with schedules packed full of school, homework, work, and sports, students often lack sufficient time to genuinely nurture relationships with others. By focusing the Winter Mental Health Summit on connection, students have two hours devoted solely to strengthening relationships with friends and teachers.
“First and foremost, we want students to connect. And so the Mental Health Summit is a way that everyone is open to participate in several different activities, and you can see people you haven’t seen in a while. You can sit, you can connect with them,” says Jennifer Evans, advisor to Mental Health Matters Club, PBIS coach, and an adult who helped organize the Mental Health Summit.
To juniors Junah Lee and Kathleen Frank, the Mental Health Summit achieved its goal of connection, as it was an opportunity to relax and strengthen friendships.
“It’s nice to definitely have some downtime and time to hang out with friends,” Lee said.
Frank added, “It’s also a good way to connect with people and have a lighter-hearted start to the day.”
Furthermore, the Mental Health Summit arms students with valuable mental health skills. Each activity teaches students, whether they realize it or not, a strategy to boost mental health. For instance, lifting in the fitness center, crafting at a station in the lunchroom, or watching a movie in the PAC are all ways to destress.
“These are all activities [you can do] when you are at home and not sure what to do to lift your spirits. They are adding to your toolkit for your mental health capabilities,” Evans said.
And perhaps more impactful than the activities themselves, the Mental Health Summit reminds students that mental health matters. The time and effort put into this event help students understand that mental health deserves time and effort. If two whole hours can be devoted to mental health, it’s okay to spend 20 minutes reading a book to unwind or 40 minutes lifting weights at the gym to destress.
And it is simple acts of self-kindness that build the foundation of lasting change for student mental health.
