Mental Health and Students
As I’ve written about before, I am also the older sister, which means I must be up and dressed as well as I must make sure my siblings are up and dressed. All this can be tiring and stressful, and I still must go to school all day and get good grades. I know I am not the only one that must deal with this, but for the moment, I’m going to be untypically selfish and focus on myself. There are times when it feels like it is too much.
I know I bring some of this stress and anxiety to myself. I like to work and next thing you know, I’m overworked. I have a hard time saying no, and soon I’ve said yes to everything and everyone, and I find my overscheduled and double sometimes tripled booked.
I may have a touch of OCD when it comes to cleaning; I'm up till 3 in the morning cleaning the house.
The school offers counseling, and the REC is no longer a place for just naughty children, but a place that can help with social and emotional needs. The problem is that many students can barely get up out of bed and come to school let alone break our precious daily routine to go to a strange room and talk to a random person we don’t know.
What is filling me with an even greater sense of dread is, as a senior, we get threatened that if we miss too much school, we don’t get to attend events like Prom, Grad Night, and even the chance to walk at the Graduation Ceremony, and NO, I don’t have the time to bring up that “D” in after school Edgenuity or attend Saturday School to replace a missed day. I am barely managing to pass all my classes right now.
Threatening to take privileges is not an effective way to help struggling students. There are a lot of caring adults on campus who want to help. These are the people who I turn to. These are the people I recommend you find that will help you hang in there and guide you to the mental health resources available.
There’s an old saying, “You get more flies with honey than vinegar.” I’m not exactly sure why anyone would want to attract flies, but you get the idea.