Mental illnesses —such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder —affect millions of people in the U.S. daily. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, as of 2022, more than 1 in 5 adults suffered from mental illness. This is estimated at around 59.3 million adults or 23.1% of the U.S. adult population; however, imagine how many people go undiagnosed along with all of the U.S. citizens under the age of 18. According to the American Psychological Association, an estimated 20 million children in the U.S. suffer from mental illness.
The sad but real truth is that there are millions upon millions of children in the U.S. that struggle with their mental health yet lack the mental health education to know what is wrong along with the resources to help them. It is our job as the future generation to spread awareness and do our best to make sure that less and less children have to suffer without the help that they need. My hope is that in the future children who lack the mental health necessities that they need will be given the opportunity to learn more about mental health through school and be able to get the help that they need. In order to reach this goal, many resources such as the LST social workers and many counseling companies exist. One of these in particular is Youth and Family Counseling. Karin Peterson, a counselor at this company, explains that one of her jobs is to “go out in the community and talk to people like you and give presentations on mental health topics.”
“I feel like the earlier in schools, we can be normalizing that there’s a range of mental health, that it’s okay to ask for help,” Peterson said. “We know that it really can become a critical factor to keep young people, not just healthy, but truly keep them alive. We know that suicide is the second cause of death for kids aged 21, and at any given time, one in five kids are struggling with some kind of mental health disorder, and only 50% of them are getting any care or treatment or support. So the more we can talk about it, the more hopefully young people can get connected to support.”
At Libertyville High School there are many ways to reach out for support. One way is to reach out to your counselor at your LST. No matter what LST you have, you can reach out for support at any time.There are many reasons that students here at LHS can reach out for support; “For some students, we support social skills and interpersonal skills,” Mrs. Harris said. “For others, it is more about self management, making decisions, planning for the future, and working towards goals. You know I work with students, but I also work with teachers, where we discuss ways to best support students.”
If you are struggling with your mental or emotional health, please do not hesitate to reach out to your LST. Some ways you can do this are emailing your respective social worker, going straight to your LST and asking if anyone is available, or even reaching out to your parents in order to set up an appointment.
