September is a significant time annually, not only because autumn has finally come around but also because it is suicide prevention month. During this month, we focus on raising awareness regarding the importance of mental health issues, and how to prevent self-harm and suicide. This tradition consists of promoting mental health resources and encouraging people who are struggling with their state of minds to seek help. Some of the ways people can help out with spotlighting this topic is organizing or participating in mental health awareness campaigns and educational programs, as well as motivating peers to promote healthy lifestyles.
Something that is in the news frequently is that Gen Z is going through a mental health crisis. It’s very important to acknowledge that our generation is experiencing an escalated level of anxiety, stress, and depression. A lot of these things have been proven to be associated with social media influence. Social media’s addictive influence tends to constantly expose adolescents to unrealistic standards of beauty and lifestyle, which causes a lack of self-esteem among many and negatively impacts physical health as well. “I believe social media has a negative impact on an individual’s mental health. Think about the types of posts that people generally make to social media. People tend to make highlight reel posts, where they post the great things that happen to them. For many people reading these posts, they will wonder why these positive things don’t also happen to them, making them feel bad about their own live”, said Colonial Forge’s psychology and sociology teacher, Mr. Skjoldal.
Our school is contributing to suicide prevention and mental health awareness by offering counselling services for students, and also teaching Freshmen and Sophomore’s in their health classes about what signs to look out for that could point to a peer coping with something in an unhealthy way and how to help them. Additionally, staff encourages students to use the suicide prevention hotline and other resources in times of emergencies. Stay alert and try your best to recognize when someone, whether they’re your friend or not, is battling with emotional distress or is using self-harm tactics to cope, and report it to someone if encouraging them to seek help is not working, because that could save a life and could help save several other lives from falling apart.
