Mental health crises in school are prevalent across the nation.  One in five students show symptoms of a mental health disorder. That means out of a classroom of 25 students, five may be struggling with a mental heath disorder.

Almost 80% of affected students need help but don’t get it. But what does this all mean?

A student’s school staff should be able to notice and know what’s going on with the students. So many kids have depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, but they don’t get help or tell someone.

Based on the new report by NPR Bellwood-Antis seems to have some crises in school. Solving them is the next step.

Mrs. Adams, the B-A high school assistant principal, said the signs of a mental illness are: “sadness, anger, crankiness, or frustration. You may not care about things or activities you used to enjoy, have weight loss when not dieting or weight gain from eating too much. You might have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep or think about committing suicide”.

Mrs. Adams also said, “Not everyone experiences depression the same way.”

“Students come to speak to me about many topics, depression is one of them,” Mrs. Adams said. “Regular moodiness and sadness usually go away quickly though, within a couple of days.  Depression can make you feel like it’s hard to enjoy life or even get through the day. Depending on the situation each is handled differently. Some students need additional outside counseling and others can get assistance through the  Student Assistance Program (STAR).The important thing is for students to seek out help from an adult they trust.”

Mrs. Adams said each staff member at Bellwood-antis knows how to refer a student for assistance and knows the importance of keeping the information confidential.”

Mrs. Butler, the B-A l guidance counselor, said that the signs of depression are a drop in grades, declining appearance, suicidal ideation, a sense of hopelessness, and dramatic mood changes.

Mrs. Butler also said that it’s iffy for mental health crises to go unnoticed.

“It can be difficult to identify some students because students don’t always display the typical warning signs. The school welcomes the input from parents in an effort to help students who may go unnoticed,” Mrs. Butler said.

Mrs. Julie Heckman, the B-A social worker, agrees with the 1 to 5 ratio of students that show a sign or have a mental health problem. She also says that she thinks its increasing.

What could we do to help it?

“I think just education for kids and the Aveidum program makes the kids get aware of the signs so they can help their friends and people that they know that are struggling,” she said.