Helen Grisez

Lisa Cook

ENG 1201

April 11, 2021

Counseling in Schools

School isn’t easy. Teenagers are expected to do a lot of things all at once which can be

really intrusive to a person’s mental health, but what happens if a student isn’t able to talk openly

about their mental health at school? What if that student doesn’t have people whom they can

trust to help them get the help that they need? I believe that if more schools made sure that

talking about mental health is a normal thing to do, more students would have the ability to reach

out to someone and get the help that they need to deal with their mental health. A big question is,

would having access to free mental health counseling in schools help reduce the risk of teen

suicide? Mental health is not talked about enough, and as a person who has struggled with

mental health, as well as someone who identifies as LGBTQ+, this topic is important to me.

Although I had people I could go to and talk about my mental health with, many people don’t,

and they are scared to ask for help because they may be scared of being made fun of or think that

nobody will understand what they are going through. Having access to mental health

counseling, as well as access to mental health resources in schools, will help lower the risk of

teen suicide because it gives students a chance to be open about what they are going through,

address problems before they get to a crisis point, and normalizes talking about mental health

in general.

The Trevor Project, which is an organization that is dedicated to preventing suicide in

LGBTQ+ youth all across America states that, “Reducing the risk of youth suicide requires
making positive changes.” Positive changes involve schools learning how to respond, assess, and

prevent suicidal behavior, and so they decided to make a “Model School Policy.” The purpose

behind this policy is to help schools come up with a way to handle situations that involve

students with suicidal thoughts. The “Model School Policy” has an entire section that talks about

why it’s so important to have school- based mental health resources. In the introduction of this

article, it states that, “In 2017, suicide was the second leading cause of death among young

people ages 10-19.1 It is critically important that school districts have policies and procedures in

place to prevent, assess the risk of, intervene, and respond to youth suicidal behavior.” It goes on

to talk about how important it is to be prepared for when a crisis happens because it is impossible

to tell when it will happen. This document covers everything from warning signs to look out for,

to ways parents can help their children. If more schools use this policy, they will be able to help

all their students. Having a mental health resource like The Trevor Project will help closeted

teens who don’t have a good support system both at school and home, feel comfortable with who

they are at home and at school. I wish I had something like this at my school because when I

came out as bisexual, I got picked on a lot in my government class for something I couldn’t

control, which was very hard on me mentally. Although my coming out experience was over all

positive, I wish I could have a second chance. Not only did I feel pressured into coming out to

my family, but I was also so confused as to why I would get made fun of and felt like I couldn’t

be my true self at school. Somedays it was so hard mentally and physically, that it was a struggle

to leave my bed in the morning. Although I had friends who supported me at school, If I had

known about The Trevor Project, I would have been able to talk to someone who is unbiased and

who is willing to listen to what I was going through at the time. I would learn to not be ashamed

of something I couldn’t control and that I am valid, no matter what a person says.
 The next source comes from a website called Hey Teach, and the title of the article is

“The Importance of Mental Health Awareness in Schools.” Nancy Barile, the author, explains

that because she was educated in mental health awareness, she was able to see the warning signs

in one of her students who was struggling with their own mental health. Barile was able to have

the student speak to social workers at the school so she could talk to someone about what she

was going through and eventually she got the help she needed. The point of this article is to show

why schools should consider making mental health awareness and education a part of its

curriculum. Being able to talk openly about mental health in school should be a normal thing to

do and having the information and resources to do so will help students feel comfortable

reaching out to get the help that they need.

Another source that advocates for the normalization of mental health in schools is the

website youth.gov. The section titled “School-Based Supports” is dedicated to explaining why

talking about mental health in school should be normalized, as well as why having information

and resources students can use to get the help they need is just as important. This article covers

everything from different mental health services, to how having school based mental health

services can be beneficial to reducing the risk of teen suicide. One section even provided

statistics on how many teens have a diagnosed mental health disorder, “The Center for Mental

Health in Schools estimates that between 12 and 22 percent of school-aged children and youth

have a diagnosable mental health disorder.” The large percentage of children who have been

diagnosed with a mental health disorder makes having mental health resources in schools that

kids can rely on so much more beneficial. The article goes on to explain why having mental

health resources that are school based can help reduce the risk of teen and youth suicide.
 When reading the article from youth.gov I learned a lot about the mental health of teens

and how it can be affected by school, as well as how many teens are affected. It states,

“According to the most recent data in 2005, over one-third of school districts used school or

district staff to provide mental health services, and over one-fourth used outside agencies to

provide mental health services in the schools.” This means that they are relying on the teachers

and other staff members to be able to handle situations with students regarding mental health.

Although this may work, hiring people who are educated and are trained to handle these

situations would increase the number of students who reach out and ask for help. Teachers are

always there to listen and help but may not be able to give advice on what to do and how to cope

with suicidal thoughts. If school districts hired licensed therapists and counselors that don’t work

for the school, students will feel like they can go to someone who they know is trained to handle

situations like this, and know that they can trust and talk to about their mental health.

The article, “Shaping the Future of Mental Health in Schools” by Howard Adelman and

Linda Taylor describes how schools are handling situations involving a student’s mental health

and how they can do better. The last section titled “Concluding statements” discusses mental

health resources and education in schools that could help reduce the risk of teen suicide. It can

have a positive impact on not only the students, but also the staff. Having teachers and students

open to talking about mental health, as well as providing mental health resources, can be

instrumental to encourage students to ask for help. The article asks the question, “In what

direction should we go? And who should decide this?” or in other words, what can the school do

to create an open and welcoming environment for students, as well as help students get the help

that they need, whether it be therapy or having someone to talk to. When a school decides to

make positive changes, they are improving how they handle situations that involves a student’s
mental health. Making sure students know that its ok to ask for help will have a positive impact

on the school’s current students and on students who attend the school in the future.

The article “Supporting Young People’s Mental Health” talks about mental health in the

United Kingdom and how not every student dealing with mental health is the same, saying “we

hold the view that mental health should not be stigmatized.” The authors argue that mental health

is not a stereotype and should not be viewed like it is. The United Kingdom’s government policy

regarding a school’s role in supporting their students’ mental health is being done in a way that

does not work for most kids. Instead of responding in what was called a “clinical approach,” the

government should implement a systemic response, meaning that the school should focus on

what caused the student’s issue in the first place. Doing this helps the student get the help that

they need based on their own situation. It’s important to know that just because something works

for most people, doesn’t mean it will work for everyone. Every person is different, and every

person’s situation that deals with their own mental health is different too.

When talking about mental health in general, one thing I noticed that not everyone agreed

with were mental health days from school. Sometimes being in high school or college can seem

like too many things going on at once and leads to students becoming overwhelmed. If this

happens, some schools in different states across the United States have made mental health days

an acceptable reason to miss a day of school. Although this sounds like a fantastic idea, not

everyone agrees with this. The article, “Are Mental Health Days A Good Idea?” by Ruth Mesfin,

talks about the pros and cons of mental health days and whether or not it would be beneficial for

students to have access to this.

The feedback was mostly positive, but there was one person who commented below the

article stating, “I disagree with the mental health days. I totally understand being stressed out and
having severe anxiety, I am one of those people, but why would you want to miss school and

make matters more stressful on yourself. If you miss school, you will then get behind and in

some classes catching up is really hard and that is very stressful.” The article also listed the cons

of mental health days like, “Might be taken advantage of or used as an excuse, missing work,

having to catch up after returning, exploitation.” Many adults expressed their opinions against

mental health days and why students should seek help in schools. One teacher said, “No, I don’t

agree with having mental health days when you can come to school and get support from your

counselors rather than staying home and using your phone.” And a hall monitor said, “No, I

don’t think it is necessary for students to have mental health days; life is already stressful itself.

I’m stressed and I still attend my job. Over time you need to learn how to deal with it and not use

that as an excuse.” I’ve noticed that many teachers who agree with improving students’ mental

health just do it because the district told them to talk about it, which only makes things worse.

Although it won’t work for everyone, mental health days have proven to help many teens

cope and take a break mentally from their schoolwork. In the same article, another student said,

“I think mental health days would help just because everybody needs time to process and have

time to just take a breather, especially since students are always on the go.” This article also

states that mental health days, “allow students to prioritize their mental state and well-being,

gives students a break to gather themselves, might increase a student’s performance in school,

decrease stress.” Mental health days can help students decide if they want to find counseling

outside of school or if they want to encourage their school district to do more to help students

regarding their mental health.

In the end, the research shows that there should be people in schools who are educated

and able to help students with underlying mental health issues. Students need assistance getting
the treatment they need for mental health issues. Although taking mental health days and having

resources outside of school like The Trevor Project are great, one place where it should be

normalized to talk about mental health at is school. As a person with diagnosed depression and

social anxiety, it was really hard to go to school every day and not have a support system to rely

on outside of my home, and with some of my friends also suffering from the same thing as me, it

would have helped a lot if there were people trained to deal with students with mental health

issues. If schools are going to take talking about mental health seriously, they need to hire people

who are trained to handle situations that involve a students’ mental health, so kids feel

comfortable talking to adults at school. I also think that anyone who is hired to handle situations

like this, should know that everyone struggles with their mental health. I had a couple of guy

friends in high school who were struggling mental health wise and were too scared to ask for

help because they were worried about getting picked on buy their guy friends. The school staff

should be trained to focus on the mental health of all students, regardless of their gender, and

know that they have a big impact on their students mental health as well.

Mental health is not an easy thing to talk about, but schools can make it easier by offering

access to mental health services on site. Because having mental health issues is not considered a

“normal” thing to talk about at school, teens are not getting the help that they need. As the five

sources here argue, mental health needs to stop being stigmatized and schools should be more

open to dealing with situations regarding mental health, regardless of a person’s gender or sexual

orientation. Having people at school who you know are trustworthy and who are there for you,

will make it easier to ask for help, and to anyone who is struggling with their mental health, just

know that things will get better over time. Its ok to not be ok, and its ok to take a break.
 Works Cited

Adelman, Howard S. and Linda Taylor. “Shaping the Future of Mental Health in Schools.”

Psychology in the Schools, vol. 37, no. 1, Jan. 2000, p. 49. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6807(200001)37:1<49::AID-PITS6>3.0.CO;2-0.

Barile, Nancy. “The Importance of Mental Health Awareness in Schools.” WGU Hey Teach!

https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/importance-mental-health-awareness-

schools1810.html

Glazzard, J. and S. Stones. “Supporting Young People’s Mental Health: Reconceptualizing the

Role of Schools or a Step Too far?. Front. Educ. 2021. 5:607939. doi:

10.3389/feduc.2020.607939.

“School-based Supports.” Youth.gov. https://youth.gov/youth-topics/youth-mental-health/school-

based

The Trevor Project: Saving Young LGBTQ Lives. 2021. Thetrevorproject.org.

Mesfin, Ruth. “Are Mental Health Days a Good Idea?” Rangereviewsnews.org

https://rangeviewnews.org/20771/news/are-mental-health-days-a-good-idea/