Mental health can be quite a serious topic, sometimes even considered a taboo topic or something people are shamed for talking about. Mental health is something that recently has been slowly losing its stigma or the taboo behind it as teenagers and professionals begin to talk more about it. Jenna Weber is a senior at FHN who can be seen advocating for mental health. Mental health is important to her, and she tries to help mental health issues when she can. Weber is very adamant about being able to help others.

“Mental health something everybody struggles with, and people need to know that it’s not a lonely battle kind of thing,” Weber said.

Weber believes that mental health is a topic that people need to stand up for. In the school setting, talking about mental health can be difficult, and people who are struggling need all the help they can get. The implementation of homeroom mentors was an effort to lower the stigma around mental health and promote its discussion, and counselors are at school to help wherever they can. Weber feels that there’s room for improvement in the way the school handles mental health, but that there isn’t much a school can do to improve other than being supportive and kind. 

Other students share Weber’s belief in the importance of spreading mental health awareness and getting rid of the stigma around it, as well as making school a more welcoming environment to promote good mental health. One of the people who believes this is Sarah Stover.

“Way too many people struggle with [mental health],” Stover said. “It isn’t talked about.”

Weber expressed that telling someone something even just as small as a reminder they are important, could be enough to make them feel a little better and cheer them up. Then maybe they will continue to spread that.

“When it comes down to it. You can’t really force someone to tell you what’s really going on. You can really only go off what they tell you and refuse to tell you.”