In the article, “A Day Off for Mental Health” (Upfront, Caron,2022) I learned that teens around the country are pushing the concept of sick days to bolster mental wellness. This is due to the stress that these teens are put under because of what their school is tossing them, examples are sports practice, studying for tests, and extracurricular activities, and that’s just the minimum of what some schools expect from students. Finally taking notice of being Faced with high-stress levels among adolescents and a mental health crisis that includes rising suicide rates, some states are now allowing students to declare a mental health day. In the past few, years Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Main, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Virginia have all passed bills permitting students to be absent from school for mental or behavioral health reasons, efforts that were often aided or spearheaded by young people.
I think that a day off for mental health is a great idea. This will help so many teens that are suffering because of the stress they endure. And schools finally taking ownership of the idea makes me hope that it will help not only the students become more open but also their families.
What do you think about having, “A Day Off for Mental Health”?
Dear Angel:
I am impressed by your post, “A Day Off for Mental Health,” because I see that your message is conveyed clearly. I agree that mental health is important because it is an issue that plagues no one more than a teenager going through big changes in their life. We as students are often told that we just need to put up with stress, that it builds character and discipline; it’s heavy stress that crushes a student’s will to learn.
As a result, something you wrote that stood out to me was that a handful of states have passed bills permitting students to take mental health days or to miss school because of behavioral health reasons, adding that these efforts, “were often aided or spearheaded by young people.” I think that this is an important note because it shows two crucial things: there are finally measures in the works intended to aid teens with mental health struggles and young people are being more enthusiastic about fighting for their own causes. In other words, this shows that there is progress being made and that we, as a younger generation, are being more independent in our activism.
Thank you for your writing! I look forward to seeing what you write next because you seem to have a strong understanding of your surroundings. I like to see people aware of things occurring in the world and what action is taking place, so I hope to see more of this from you!
Sebastian