Bring Change to Mind at C-H High School aims to address mental health issues
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
In this May 4 photo, Chartiers-Houston Junior-Senior High School kicked off Mental Health Awareness Month with a Card My Yard sign promoting mental health wellness. The sign was provided by Bring Change 2 Mind (BC2M) and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). The school has a variety of activities planned throughout the month to raise awareness of mental health issues.
Courtesy Chartiers-Houston School District
Chartiers-Houston High School students are participating in a door decorating contest to promote National Mental Health Awareness Month.
By Karen Mansfield/Staff writer/kmansfield@observer-reporter.com
Chartiers-Houston High School students are participating in a door decorating contest to promote National Mental Health Awareness Month. The contest is sponsored by Bring Change to Mind High School (BC2Mhs) and Students Against Destructive Decisions.
Courtesy Chartiers-Houston School District
Chartiers-Houston High School students Noelle Wingard and Jalynn Suba, members of the Bring Change to Mind High School club that promotes positive mental health, helped organize a Halloween event that called for students to write encouraging messages for a spider web.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, but Chartiers-Houston High School’s Bring Change to Mind Club High School (BC2M) addresses mental health issues in adolescents year-round.
BC2M is a student-led club whose mission is to end the stigma surrounding mental illness and to promote mental health awareness.
Junior Jalynn Shuba helped start Chartiers-Houston’s chapter – the first BC2M high school club in Pennsylvania – in 2021.
Co-founded in 2010 by actress Glenn Close, after her sister was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and her nephew with schizoaffective disorder, there are now more than 400 high school clubs nationwide.
“I struggle with mental illness myself, and at first I was afraid to talk about it because I felt as if I should be ashamed of it. But I don’t want other people to feel that way, so that’s why I got involved,” said Shuba. “I think the stigma has lifted more than ever before, but it’s still there.”
BC2M has organized several activities centering around mental health in order to open up conversations and create a positive environment at the high school.
Over the past two weeks, students have participated in a mental health awareness-themed door decorating contest sponsored by BC2M and Students Against Destructive Decisions.
Other initiatives have included an Easter egg hunt (plastic eggs were filled with positive messages and candy); a Halloween spider web where students wrote encouraging messages on notes and attached them to the web; journaling; rock painting; yoga; and mindfulness strategies.
BC2M also provides students with access to Headspace, a website that offers hundreds of meditation and mindfulness tools.
“I’m so proud of our kids. They are really invested in normalizing mental health issues, in eliminating the stigma so often associated with mental health issues,” said Chartiers-Houston social worker Karol Snead, the club’s adviser. “Many kids in the club are open about their own mental health issues. They are smart, funny, successful kids who know how tough anxiety, depression, and other issues are, but they keep on moving forward.”
Adolescents already faced significant mental health challenges – among them, anxiety and depression – before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic has made them worse.
In early April, the Centers for Disease Control published a report on teen mental health in which more than one-third of U.S. high school students said their mental health suffered during COVID-19. In fact, 44% said they persistently felt sad or hopeless during the past year.
One in 4 people will experience a mental health issue in their lifetime, and 50% of mental health disorders begins before the age of 14.
At Chartiers-Houston, BC2M members aim to support their peers, and many students have joined the club because they find it a safe place to share their own mental health issues or advocate for others.
“We want to help people to understand that if they’re going through a hard time, they’re not alone and there are always ways that they can get help,” said senior Sebastian DeLong, who acknowledged battling depression and anxiety in recent years. “Overcoming them is an extreme challenge, but I always know that at least there’s someone there for me to talk to. This club is trying to help kids who are going through this as well, to help them understand that if they need to talk to someone, they can talk to someone in this club, or they can reach out to Mrs. Snead and other teachers in this school who are open to help.”
Shuba encouraged teens not to be afraid to seek help or talk about mental health issues.
“It sucks having to keep everything inside. People are scared because they think they’ll get judged; they won’t,” said Shuba. “Everybody feels it. It helps to talk to someone about it.”