Did you know that almost three quarters of students have reported struggling with mental illness? Although it has become a more normalized subject as of recent years, mental health is still something that holds a plethora of stigmas and stereotypes. This is something that still desperately needs change, as mental health is something that needs to be addressed and normalized, because it is a part of every human's existence. Around 17% of students in America have attempted suicide, with the percentage rising every year. The stress and anxiety caused by the fear of low grades, bad social interactions with other students and school faculty and much more. With this information in mind, wouldn't it seem logical to assume that schools would instate qualified mental health professionals in their school and have mental health assessments? The truth is, only about 42% of schools offer some form of mental health assistance, and while it seems like that is a good number, it still has the potential to increase and offer more support and solutions to some issues students may have.
Another thing that is on the rise, which is very well known, is gun violence in schools. School shootings are at its highest rate in decades, and it seems like they continue to rise and be reported on. Most of the perpetrators of these incidents are struggling with serious mental illness, and although it is very clearly no excuse to do what they did, it could’ve been prevented with the support of real trained professionals and mental health services being easily accessible and more pushed to the students. These can be fixed by just hiring a few mental health professionals, like therapists and psychiatrists. Mental health is something that has been in many positive conversations in recent years, and it seems extremely likely that it will continue to rise up and hopefully become normalized in modern society.