With the rise of the teen mental health crisis students have decided to restart the club Zero Reasons Why. This year Zero Reasons why has also decided to merge with previous club JagPRIDE to promote positivity and mental health awareness across the school.
Mental health can be a hard topic to discuss especially with high school students. It can be challenging for students suffering from mental health problems to reach out and get help they need, especially when students are unaware how to do that.
Senior Logan Koester, who helped start up the club two years ago understands how important it is for high school students to understand their mental health.
“More teens are depressed and have anxiety every year but it’s looked down upon, as simple brain differences aren’t noticed and accepted throughout the student body,” Koester said. “It’s important to keep people educated and give them resources.”
Reaching out can be as simple as asking someone how they’re doing. There are also staff members at the school students can see if they are in need of help, such as the school social worker Katie Hess.
“The other steps that we do, I think you’re going to be a little bit more deliberate and kind of slower moving, but I know there was a lot of wanting to just do something, especially with the recent events in the school,” Hess said.
This year members of the club wanted to do something for students to promote positivity and bring awareness. Club members placed kind messages all over the school to remind students they are not alone and help is always there.
To get involved with Zero Reasons Why you can contact one of the leaders or sponsor, Katherine Hess. Meetings are every Monday before school. Koester and other members hope to plan other exciting projects to help out around the school.
“This year is a buildup year so there will be a lot of experimenting,” Koester said. “We won’t really start anything until next semester we fuse with jag pride so we will do spirit events as well as little things that promote wellness.”
