One Club, One Task Force, One In-School Initiative, and One Health Educator are Making an Impact on One Epidemic
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| Straight Talk Task Force & Health Educator Melanie Lynch |
Mental health in schools has received a lot of press over the past year. On the university, high school, and even middle and elementary school levels, the floodgates have opened to conversations about continually climbing rates of depression and suicidal ideations. At State High, individuals and groups have banded together to create a space for discussion and have begun brainstorming answers to the question, “How can we help?”
Straight Talk Task Force & Health Educator Melanie Lynch
Throughout the 2015–2016 school year, the Straight Talk Task Force brought free monthly presentations to SCASD parents, caregivers, and community members.
The Straight Talk Task Force is made up of representatives from the Jana Marie Foundation, Youth Service Bureau, Communities That Care Partnership, and State College Area School District administration, faculty, and staff. Sessions have covered topics like depression and anxiety, drugs and alcohol, sexual abuse, self-harm, healthy relationships, and more.
In April, SHAPE America’s Teacher of the Year in health education, Melanie Lynch, tackled the high stakes topic of body image in her Straight Talk presentation at Mount Nittany Middle School. Lynch’s approach to the talk was similar to her approach to teaching health class: address underlying issues in depth rather than focusing on the symptoms that arise when those underlying issues get out of hand. In her televised Straight Talk presentation, Lynch discussed how the media has created unrealistic expectations for body image and how the evolution of technology has shaped how young people view themselves and their peers.
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The Straight Talk Task Force mission statement: We strive to raise our children to become strong, confident, happy adults. The Straight Talk Parenting Series presents educational programs that help parents, care- givers, and community members to recognize, understand, and deal with potential problems that can surface during a child’s developmental years. Be proactive. Learn the warning signs. Learn how to help our children before the problem affects them, impacts their school work, or influences family relationships. |
Lynch discussed how negative body image can plant the seed for disordered eating, depression, and anxiety, and encouraged parents to move toward positive messaging that steers clear of numbers. Her message was to encourage health consciousness for the sake of self-care rather than to strive for a specific image.
And this perspective certainly aligns with Lynch’s broader philosophy. “This is a skills-based health education curriculum,” she said. “I’m not just teaching you facts like how many calories are in a nutrient. Those things are important, but you can easily look them up. What’s more important than learning facts is learning how to set goals, make decisions, and advocate for yourself.”
Those accustomed to an old-school or stereotypical view of health education might be surprised by the approach Lynch takes in her classrooms, especially emphasizing stress management, body image, and sexuality education. “It’s important for students to know it’s acceptable to start dialogues around sensitive topics, and to have a trusted adult to have those conversations with,” she said.
My Mental Health Matters Club
On May 17, 9th through 12th grade students in My Mental Health Matters (MMHM), a new club at State High, presented May’s Straight Talk session. MMHM is a student-formed club that aims to erase the stigma attached to issues surrounding mental health. Under the guidance of high school counselors Patty Devecka and Suzanne Lyke, Jana Marie Foundation’s President Marisa Vicere, and State High alumnus Shawn Bainbridge, members strive to bring awareness to common feelings of doubt or helplessness and most importantly, to let students know that they are never alone in the State High halls. Their Straight Talk presentation covered the importance of mental health awareness from a student perspective.
The students responsible for forming MMHM were moved by troubling results from the most recent Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), which reflected alarmingly high rates of depression and suicidal ideation. They identified that the importance of physical health receives a great deal of attention, but mental health is often neglected. The club’s logo features a phoenix, which represents resilience in the face of adversity and the reemergence of strength, especially mental strength.
These students are having conversations that many people are avoiding. And, beyond that, they are developing solutions. In addition to identifying some of the stressors associated with high school, especially in light of the results of the Pennsylvania Youth Survey that indicate alarmingly high rates of depression and suicidal ideations among State High students in 2015, the group has begun to brainstorm ways of overcoming stigma and breaking the silence.
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| Students made "My mental health matters" posters. | |
In addition to working toward reducing stigma, the group strives to promote improvements in individual mental health. They discuss techniques for coping with stress, rather than burying it and piling on more. They have presented their findings in talks to middle school classrooms and the community. They decorated the high school’s hallways with pieces of paper bearing the words “My mental health matters because.”
One student completed the sentence by writing, “My mental health matters because I matter.”
Although still in its infancy, the initiative is taking off and gaining recognition within and outside of the high school and district. It is coming at a time when mental health concerns are sounding alarms at universities like Penn State. Perhaps stress in the world of education continues to climb as time goes on.
Melanie Lynch identifies reliance on technology as being a potential culprit for part of the decline in students’ stress management skills. “Everything is at the touch of our fingertips,” she said. “Relationships are becoming more virtual, and kids struggle more with showing empathy.” Coupled with ever-increasing academic competition that reinforces unachievable ideals, this creates a dilemma: “Students’ brains do not shut off; they are constantly engaged,” said Lynch, “but that also means they’re unengaged.”
Lynch also faults a lack of resources with exacerbating the wave of mental health crises SCASD and countless other school districts have seen in recent years. In addition to teaching health education, she serves on the Student Assistance Program (SAP) team.
The Student Assistance Program
SAP is a nationwide program helping at-risk students access resources they need. When students are struggling with depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, disordered eating, or other troublesome emotions or behaviors, they can be anonymously referred to SAP by a friend, family member, staff, or community member. According to Lynch, “We are even seeing an increase in self-referrals.”
From there, the SAP team collects information and discusses strategies for how to most effectively assist the student and remove barriers to his or her success. In collaboration with the student’s family, a plan is developed and the student is linked with in-school and out-of-school services and activities that might be beneficial. The SAP team follows up and monitors student progress.
“SAP is the umbrella—the arch that says, ‘Come out from the rain, tell us your story, and we’ll try to get you the help you need,’” Lynch describes. But she also recognizes that there are limitations to what can be done on the part of educators. And in many cases, the barriers cannot be broken down within the school. SAP can make suggestions for how and where to obtain resources, but cannot always provide them in-house.
Spreading the Message
Having had the opportunity to travel and provide overviews of her health education lesson plans to other educators across the nation, Lynch often feels drawn toward pursuing teacher education on a greater scale. “For every teacher I reach, I can impact thousands of students,” she pointed out, “and often, teachers will approach me and tell me I’ve made an impact in their classroom. They’ve seen increased engagement and a decline in behavioral problems.”
And while the idea of maximizing the quantity of her reach is appealing, Lynch can’t bring herself to leave behind those one-on-one interactions, and the candid dialogues she has with her students outside of a lecture when they sit across the desk and tell her what’s going on. “I just can’t give that up,” she said. And so, with 20 years of health education in SCASD under her belt, the health education Teacher of the Year will continue addressing underlying issues in her State High classrooms.
My Mental Health Matters, advised by counselors Suzanne Lyke and Patricia Devecka, will continue to spread awareness as it moves into its second year. The Straight Talk Task Force will continue to provide a forum for tackling “taboo” topics. And the SAP program will continue to match at-risk students with appropriate resources. However, the fight to make more resources readily available within the district is a worthwhile one that will be ongoing.
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Integrated Mental Health Services:
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