Mental Health Services in School — Mediwy — Mobilizing Healthcare Delivery
Bullying, Academic pressure, excessive workload, etc can make life difficult for students. This is the reason why we need to give more importance to mental health services in school. Today, our schools only focus on academics and sports as well but there’s not enough importance given to the stress created by it. Several surveys have shown that early help of mental health services in such cases helps a lot. As parents or teachers, we must also keep an eye on what is happening with our kids. Being watchful about their sudden behavior change might help find out student mental health issues at an early stage. Besides that, schools must have some committee that creates mental health awareness in schools.
The benefits of mental health services in school are rewarding. It will help in making the students confident and more self-aware. Students with good mental health are ought to have a better learning experience in school. They take part more in other activities as well that boost the growth of a student. By creating mental health awareness in schools, students can become more empathetic. They may refer their friends to seek the help of mental health services as well. This will not only help in early intervention but also remove the stigma around mental health.
Academics cause stress to almost every student. Even as parents or teachers, we often force students to get better grades. Inability to live up to the expectations of our parents and teachers is often the reason for anxiety and low self-esteem. These mental health issues need to be addressed at schools. Since a student spends a huge chunk of his time at school, schools should be well equipped with mechanisms of providing mental health services in public schools. If there is mental health awareness in a school, students can come together and form communities to help each other. Students can also interact with each other and be open about their mental health. Group studies can also be a good way to release stress and study at the same time.
Due to the lack of mental health awareness in schools, we never provide students with a good school-life balance. According to a survey by Digital Label in 2019, an average student works more than 20 hours after their school hours. Excessive homework, assignment, and other submissions create a lot of stress. It is inhumane on behalf of parents and teachers to put so much load on the students. This negatively impacts student’s mental health.
As parents or teachers, we must be watchful for the signs of common mental health issues in children. These issues can be changes in mood, abnormal behavior, weight loss, loss of appetite, anger, or even self-harm and drug abuse in some extreme cases. Sometimes, these signs are hard to find because the students are embarrassed to share their problems with their family or friends. They may hide these signs as well. Even if parents or teachers can sense these mental health signs, they do not know how to deal with them. Professional mental health services in school know how to deal with varied emotions. These emotions can range from sadness and anger to grief. Especially with students, then things get even trickier. So it is best to seek professional help in such scenarios and create more mental health awareness in school to reduce the stigma around it.
Originally published at https://www.mediwy.com on May 22, 2021.
