If you’ve ever felt like your problems would just get you in trouble or like you can’t talk about the things going on in your life, you’re not alone. My overwhelming role is to do some kind of preventative work.” “My primary role is to help kids with their mental health issues. Dunn’s primary objective is to look out for the well being of her students. One way is by seeing if she’s in her room at the time you’re having your problem, and another way is by being referred by a teacher or an admin. There’s a multitude of ways that you can see her. She sits down with students and talks through what they have going on. She has many mental health outlets that she can get you in touch with, like the suicide hotline, and counseling groups.ĭunn also takes in students of her own to talk to. Riley social worker, aka Girl Boss, Mary Dunn, is located on the 3rd floor in the guidance office. Students that struggle with their mental health do have options available to them that they might not be aware of. I also hang nice posters around the classroom that encourage them.” “I do mental health check ins with my classes every Monday. Kennedy Ward, a teacher at Riley High School, makes her students know that their feelings and emotions are valid in the classroom through mental health check in’s and posters hanging around her classroom. They feel heard and seen and want to be able to talk with that teacher about what they have going on. However, some teachers really try to make their classroom feel like a safe space, and in doing so they have created an environment where students know that they can talk to their teacher. I feel like they don’t really care.” Mental health doesn’t feel like a safe thing to talk about because of concerns about CPS getting called on parents, or ending up in a mental hospital that isn’t beneficial to the student. An anonymous student said, “I feel like it’s not a safe thing to talk about. For example, students feel like teachers don’t care about it. In the school building, mental health isn’t emphasized as much as it should be. Students struggle from overwhelming amounts of work and the stress of everyday life.

High school students are partial and subjected to more mental health problems. People struggle with mental health each and every day but it’s not talked about enough.

Cornerstone my health report