How many students do you know who struggle with mental health? Probably not a lot, right? Well, worldwide and mostly in America, student scholars struggle with mental health in the place where they are supposed to be focused on getting an education, not thinking of how to stop the negative thoughts. Schools should have more resources for scholars struggling with mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, or more. Imagine you are a young child struggling with thoughts of suicide, and you don’t know how to cope at school, and one day you give up and end your life. Lots of young children and young adults in schools deal with the struggle of mental health and don’t even know how to cope at school. This is bad because if they are struggling, then he or she won’t know what to do or even know who to go to. For example, evidence from the article “Global child and adolescent mental health challenges and advantages” from the National Library of Medicine (NLOM) states, “Mental health disorders are very common. The prevalence of mental health disorders in children and adolescents is almost 15% globally. With the recognition that 50% of mental health disorders begin by the age of 14 and 75% by the age of 24,” This data shows the serious problem of many young children facing mental illnesses. With their brains not being fully developed, they can make bad decisions when trying to cope, such as self-harm, drug abuse, and even suicide.
If students were given more resources, these numbers may decrease drastically. In addition, evidence from “What is the State of Young People’s Mental Health?” from the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) states, “Research shows that good mental health is key to the success of all children and adolescents in school and life. Students’ mental health challenges encompass overall social, emotional, and behavioral health challenges such as feelings of anxiety, depression, stress, loneliness or thoughts of self-harm.” This clearly shows that good mental health is necessary for student success and also that bad mental health can cause some serious problems. A solution to this can be that the government, such as the executive branch, can make sure that schools get the proper resources, such as more counselors, daily talks about how to cope, and more teachers learning how to spot signs of distress or sadness to help students with mental illnesses. For example, research from KFF states, “School-based mental health services can improve access to care, allow for early identification and treatment of mental health issues, and may be linked to reduced absenteeism and better mental health and substance use outcomes. School-based services can also reduce access barriers for underserved populations, including children from low-income households and children of color.” It clearly states a solution to mental health issues in young scholars in schools and links back to where you can find evidence for that claim. Some people may think that more resources aren’t needed for students with mental illnesses or that they just can’t provide resources for mentally ill students.
Additionally, evidence from KFF states, “About one-third of schools reported they strongly (11%) or moderately disagreed (25%) that they could effectively provide mental health services. Barriers to providing mental health care services to students include funding and mental health provider shortages.” This shows that lots of schools say that they most likely can not provide resources for mentally ill students. One third of schools is a lot considering how many schools there are just in the local area of Washington, DC, or the United States. But I strongly believe that that situation can change if the government does something about it, such as fundraisers, events to promote donation, or a worldwide shop that co-funds school resources. My last piece of evidence is based on my personal experience. Since I was 9, I’ve been struggling with depression, separation anxiety, and ADHD. Struggling with this has been the most impactful thing that is happening in my life. Due to my mental state, I resorted to cutting myself to help with the struggle of my feelings. Due to that, I’ve tried to kill myself multiple times. In school, dealing with these problems has made it extremely difficult to pay attention, do my work, or even have the motivation to get good grades. My school has only one counselor, whom I don’t really trust, so I have no one to go to except my therapist outside of school. This is why I strongly resonate with schools having more resources for mentally ill students.
Finally, this is why students should have more resources for scholars struggling with mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety. Trying to cope with mental health issues can be dangerous if the coping skills involve any deliberate self-harm or harm to others, so this is why students need more resources, such as more counselors, daily talks about how to cope, and more teachers learning how to spot signs of distress or sadness.
