Student-Led Mental Health Awareness Club Fights For Recognition

GUILFORD, CT — With the one year mark of the official designation of the coronavirus as a pandemic just days away, some at Guilford High School are trying to create a student-led club to address mental health awareness, as young people especially, are struggling at what experts and the teens say is “sometimes unbearable” mental health challenges for kids.

But, the group says that when it approached high school administrators to create a school club, their request to establish the club was “denied.”

Still, the group formed and while unaffiliated with the school technically, it calls itself the GHS Mental Health Club, the GHS standing for Guilford Health Space.

It's created a Change.org petition for support, signed by more than 700, and an Instagram account to spread its message.

The teens are concerned that in addition to the typical stressors high school-age kids face, the pandemic has created, for some, nearly unendurable mental health challenges.

“Mental health awareness has never been more important than now,” the students note.

A 2017 UConn study found that the Guilford school district, as well as those of Branford and East Haven among others, had "worse than expected ... significantly higher risk for suicidal behavior among adolescents."

According to group founder and Guilford High School senior Addie Kenney, the idea was to create a student-led club, “... with the goal of reducing the stigma of mental illness, increasing help-seeking and self-care among students, and fostering awareness, education, and student empowerment."

She said the idea was rejected by school administrators.

Kenney said she spoke to a high school administrator about the idea for a mental health awareness club in October 2020. She'd begun working on an independent capstone project at the beginning of the school year focusing on student athletes and mental health at the high school. The project, she said, was "inspired by my own personal experience in the athletics program" and how she said high school administrators "handles cases regarding the mental health of their students."

Patch reached out to GHS principal Julia Chaffe and schools Superintendent Dr. Paul Freeman for comment.

Freeman responded to say that while "Student mental health is integral to all that we do, and has been a focus in our planning, budgeting and professional learning," and that student concerns around mental health issues are important, a club may not be the "best vehicle."

"Students at Guilford High School are participating in work this year through the Safe Schools Climate Committee to share the resources more broadly and to identify needs," he noted.

And Freeman added that school administrators will "continue talking to students about how best to address the concerns raised recently; even if a club is not the best vehicle, the concerns are important and we appreciate students using their voice."

But Kenney said she was told by school administration that there was a "lack of funds available and a lack of necessary safeguards in place." And she said she was recently told, "that they don’t think they have a qualified staff member at GHS who is willing to act as an advisor to the club."

The administrator did create a Mental Health Awareness Committee at the school, she said, but it's met "just three times since November." She said that students on the committee "did not receive an invitation" to attend a recent mental health panel held at the school.

"The fact that the administration knew of our interest in mental health yet did not tell us about, or invite us to that meeting, was disappointing," she said, adding that a club and a committee "are not the same thing."

"In a committee, the administrators are able to decide when and how frequently the committee meets, who is invited, as well as how many people can attend. We feel the GHS administration is supporting the stigma by treating our situation differently than every other club," Kenney said.

Kenney said the student group has "received many responses from licensed clinical social workers willing to mentor our club if GHS doesn’t have an appropriate advisor/mentor on staff." She said the group has also gotten offers of help "from community members who are willing and able to guide us through the grant-writing process, if GHS doesn’t have the funds needed to establish the club."

Kenney said after she launched the Instagram account, high school junior Abby Moore and school senior Kelsey Lynch became involved.

"Since we launched, we’ve received dozens of direct messages from our peers and professionals asking how they can be involved, and thanking us for stepping up and speaking out on their behalf," she said.

The club isn't meant to represent or replace mental health treatment but to increase student awareness and help-seeking, Kenney said

"Our purpose is to reduce the stigma of mental illness, increase help-seeking and self-care among students, and foster awareness, education, and student empowerment," Kenney said.

She said like any other school club, the group wants to have an "appropriate staff member or professional outside mentor for the club" and would abide by all club rules.

"We would seek to accomplish our goals just like any other club at GHS — by bringing in speakers to talk about mental health and related topics, doing school-wide and town-wide projects to raise awareness of the importance of mental health, raising funds for various projects, and erasing the stigma by normalizing discussions around mental health so that students feel comfortable seeking help, when and if they need it, at some point in their lives," she said emphasizing that the club "is not meant to represent or replace any form of mental health treatment. It is meant to increase student awareness and help-seeking."

“Students should be empowered, not dismissed,” Kenney said. “In refusing its students the opportunity to establish a student-led Mental Health Awareness Club, GHS is denying its students a crucial opportunity to realize their fullest potential.”