H-F Supports
In 2023, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a Youth Risk Behavior Survey that reported 40% of high school students in the U.S. experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.
Mental health is your state of well-being, emotionally, psychologically and socially. Mental health is also how you think, feel and act. Your mental health affects how you handle stress, the ups and downs of life, making choices and getting along with others. Having good mental health allows for you to cope with your emotions in a healthy way. Not being able to cope with your mental health will also affect your social, emotional, physical and spiritual health.
Many students may struggle in school. At H-F, we have a big support system. At the beginning of the school year, every English class took the Terrace Metrics test. The counseling department then used the results of the test to see if students were struggling with their mental health. If social workers noticed that students’ results were concerning, they were pulled for a one-on-one discussion with their social worker.
The counseling department will also identify students who are struggling based on grades, attendance and behavior. Assistant Principal Jennifer Rudan said, “But then in the meantime we monitor students’ attendance, their behavior, their grades to help us identify students that may be struggling, and then we follow up with those students and their families”. H-F has 11 counselors and seven social workers who are all very flexible. H-F social workers are great at building relationships, building trust and maintaining confidentiality.
Not only do social workers help our students, but students are allowed to help each other. Jennifer Rudan said, “We have our ambassador program that gives student leadership opportunities to really help other students and create an environment that says it is okay to talk about your mental health.”
H-F offers mental health school days and mental health clubs. For example, H-F has a club called “Bring Change to Mind.”(BCM). BCM is a program that brings awareness to mental health. This program welcomes everyone and the overall goal is to let people know it’s okay to struggle with their mental health. BCM also allows for students to engage with peers and with the community.
H-F offers mental health school days where students take time out of their P.E. class to learn about their mental health and how to cope with emotions in a healthy way.
Our social workers do a great job of building trustworthy relationships and bonds with students. Students should know that you can talk to them about anything.
Our social workers and psychologists are here to listen and help. If a social worker or psychologist finds that your conversation is about very traumatic or harmful topics, our social workers are required to report it to keep you safe.
Social worker Kizawanda Olowe said, “ If you are going to hurt yourself, someone is going to hurt you or you are going to hurt someone else. we need to help you if you are not in a safe environment
Students can also find mental health resources by using the hotline information on their school ID or virtual ID.
Rudan said, “Every student got a sticker that looked like this with another QR code that had outside resources available to them as well. It had like the mental health crisis line, the substance abuse text line and other outside sources for you.”
If you are struggling, remember H-F has many resources, both inside and outside of school, that can help you and support you.If you need support, you have an assigned social worker that’s based on your last name, and you can schedule a meeting with them. If you feel more comfortable with another social worker, you can still schedule with them too.
