As the learning environment gets increasingly competitive, many students often suffer from the combined negative effects of chronic anxiety, stress, and depression regardless of their grade levels.
According to a study conducted by the International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, students who have poor mental health are much more likely to develop a risk of poor academic performance in their undergraduate period.
Therefore, the school should support young adults and teens by organizing mental health workshops more frequently on campus and take an initiative to reach out to students for early intervention. Implementing mental health screenings for all students every three months can identify those who exhibit symptoms in early stages, ideally before they escalate into more severe or chronic conditions. These assessments can be included in regular body checks, allowing schools to identify those who are at risk of moderate to severe anxiety, depression, or learning disabilities.
Merriam-Webster, an American company that is mostly known for its dictionaries and publication of reference books, defines a workshop as a brief, intensive educational program that emphasizes the application of skills in a particular field for a relatively small group of people. Following this definition, mental health workshops at our school should be organized in a way that educates students how to handle stress and overcome patterns of negative self-talk.
To achieve this, workshops should include exercises on maintaining a less self-destructing mindset, interactive sessions between peers and counselors, and personalized guidance to effectively address the various mental health needs of pupils.
But it is true that the workload on school staff will escalate after increasing the amount of mental health workshops and may contribute to a burden on teachers and administrative staff. As a result, mental health workshops should be organized by licensed social workers and counselors at school in order to alleviate this burden from teachers. This allows them to focus more on their primary educational responsibilities while ensuring students receive professional support for their mental health needs.
In fact, the Alhambra Unified School District (AUSD) has received the Mental Health Student Services Act (MHSSA) grants, which allows district schools to fund and implement comprehensive mental health programs in order to organize more mental health workshops for students.
Students can only thrive in the increasingly competitive academic environment when their mental health needs have been addressed. And organizing mental health workshops is a great way to benefit students’ mental well-being by providing them with the support and methods necessary to manage stress, anxiety, and patterns of negative self-talk.
Mental health is one of the most important things and should be prioritized, thus having more workshops would benefit not only students, but teachers as well.
