Why students should have mental health days | Hailey Hardcastle

Summary

A young individual shares their journey of managing mental health from a young age, emphasizing the importance of mental health days in schools. They highlight how personal experiences and community tragedies led to the creation of House Bill 2191 in Oregon, allowing mental health days off from school. This initiative aims to reduce the stigma around mental health and promote early intervention. The speaker advocates for equal treatment of physical and mental health and calls for better mental health education and support, encouraging self-care and societal awareness.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Mental health days: The speaker's mother allowed them to take three mental health rest days each semester as long as they continued to do well in school, which was crucial for their well-being.
• 👶 Early mental health struggles: The speaker began their mental health journey at six years old, dealing with trauma-induced anxiety and clinical depression, which made growing up difficult.
• 😟 Mental health in schools: The speaker noticed that mental health wasn't talked about as much in their childhood, especially youth mental health, which led to frequent breakdowns and panic attacks.
• 🏫 Community impact: Multiple suicides in the speaker's hometown during high school highlighted the broader mental health crisis among teenagers, prompting action.
• 🗣️ Student forum: A forum with 100 high school students revealed that mental health crises were common across different towns, leading to the creation of the Students for a Healthy Oregon committee.
• 📜 House Bill 2191: The committee successfully lobbied for House Bill 2191, allowing students to take mental health days off from school, similar to physical health days.
• 🗂️ Tracking and support: Schools can now track mental health absences, ensuring students taking too many are referred to counselors for support, helping catch struggling students early.
• 🌍 Expanding impact: Inspired by Oregon's law, students in other states like California and Colorado are working to pass similar legislation, aiming to provide better mental health support.
• 🏥 Equal treatment: The bill emphasizes that physical and mental health are equally important and connected, advocating for mental health care training similar to CPR training in schools.
• 💖 Self-care message: The speaker encourages taking breaks and pacing oneself in life to prevent burnout, emphasizing that it's always okay to not be okay and to prioritize mental health.

Q & A

What deal did the speaker have with their mom regarding mental health days?

The speaker was allowed to take three mental health rest days every semester as long as they continued to do well in school.

What mental health conditions was the speaker diagnosed with?

The speaker was diagnosed with trauma-induced anxiety and clinical depression.

How did mental health challenges affect the speaker during their school years?

The speaker experienced a lot of breakdowns, panic attacks, and fluctuating productivity, sometimes feeling overwhelmed and unable to get anything done.

What significant mental health event occurred in the speaker's hometown during high school?

The speaker's hometown was touched by multiple suicides during their first year in high school.

What was the main outcome of the 2018 forum held by the Oregon Association of Student Councils?

The forum led to the formation of the committee Students for a Healthy Oregon and the creation of House Bill 2191 to allow students to take mental health days off from school.

What does House Bill 2191 entail?

House Bill 2191 allows students to take mental health days off from school in the same way they would take physical health days, enabling schools to track and support students' mental health.

How did the speaker contribute to the passage of House Bill 2191?

The speaker, along with other students, lobbied, researched, and campaigned for the bill, which was signed into law in June 2019.

What is the core concept behind House Bill 2191?

The core concept is that physical and mental health are equal and should be treated as such, emphasizing the interconnectedness of mental and physical well-being.

What analogy does the speaker use to describe the importance of pacing oneself in life?

The speaker compares life to a long-distance race, suggesting that pacing oneself and taking breaks are crucial to avoid burnout and ensure long-term success.

What message does the speaker want the audience to take away regarding mental health?

The speaker wants the audience to understand that it's always OK to not be OK, to take breaks when needed, and to look after each other and themselves, especially focusing on the mental health of children and teens.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Mental Health Journey: Childhood to Advocacy

Leslie Gauthier shares her early mental health journey, beginning at six years old with trauma-induced anxiety and clinical depression. Her mother's allowance of three mental health days per semester helped her manage school stress and stay productive. Despite mental health being a lesser-discussed topic at the time, Leslie used these rest days to stay balanced and successful. Now, she uses her experiences to help other students navigate their mental health challenges, emphasizing the universal need for mental health care.

05:03

💡 High School Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy

In high school, Leslie became more aware of the widespread mental health issues among students, especially after multiple suicides in her community. As president of the Oregon Association of Student Councils, she organized a forum to discuss teenage mental health, revealing that many students had similar experiences. This led to the creation of Students for a Healthy Oregon and the push for House Bill 2191, allowing students to take mental health days off school. The law, passed in 2019, provides a framework for schools to track and support students' mental health needs, aiming to prevent crises.

🌍 Expanding Mental Health Support: National Efforts and Core Concepts

Leslie highlights the importance of teaching young people about self-care and stress management to save lives. House Bill 2191's core principle is treating mental and physical health equally, acknowledging their interconnection. Leslie advocates for mental health care training, similar to CPR, to equip everyone with the skills to handle mental health crises. She stresses the need for resources in schools, where students struggle the most, and encourages taking breaks to manage stress, promoting a culture of mutual care and self-awareness.

Keywords

💡Mental Health Rest Days

Mental health rest days are days off taken to focus on one's mental well-being. In the video, the speaker explains how their mother allowed them to take three mental health rest days each semester to help manage their anxiety and depression, which contributed to their success in school.

💡Trauma-Induced Anxiety

Trauma-induced anxiety refers to anxiety that develops as a result of past traumatic experiences. The speaker mentions having this condition, which led to constant worry and made their childhood particularly challenging, causing frequent panic attacks and breakdowns.

💡Clinical Depression

Clinical depression is a severe form of depression requiring medical intervention. The speaker was diagnosed with clinical depression at a young age, which significantly affected their daily life and academic performance, making mental health rest days essential for their well-being.

💡Youth Mental Health

Youth mental health refers to the mental well-being of young people. The speaker highlights the lack of conversation around this topic during their childhood and emphasizes the importance of addressing mental health issues among teenagers to prevent crises and promote overall health.

💡House Bill 2191

House Bill 2191 is legislation allowing students to take mental health days off from school. The speaker, along with peers and professionals, campaigned for this bill to be signed into law in Oregon in 2019, aiming to prioritize mental health in schools and reduce stigma.

💡Mental Health Crisis

A mental health crisis is a situation in which a person’s mental health severely deteriorates, requiring immediate intervention. The speaker discusses how widespread these crises are among students, sharing personal and community experiences to illustrate the urgency of addressing mental health in schools.

💡Students for a Healthy Oregon

Students for a Healthy Oregon is a committee formed to address and reduce the stigma around mental health in schools. The speaker co-founded this group in response to multiple student suicides and aimed to promote mental health awareness and resources through legislative action.

💡Mental Health and Physical Health Equality

The concept that mental health and physical health should be treated with equal importance. The speaker argues that mental health issues manifest physically and should be addressed similarly to physical health problems, advocating for mental health days and proper care in schools.

💡Mental Health Toolkit

A set of skills and resources to help manage mental health crises. The speaker envisions a future where everyone is equipped with tools to assist themselves and others during mental health challenges, much like how people are trained in CPR for physical emergencies.

💡Empathy and Honesty

Empathy and honesty are crucial in discussing and addressing mental health issues. The speaker describes how these qualities were fundamental in the 2018 forum where students shared their mental health experiences, leading to meaningful conversations and actionable solutions.

Highlights

The speaker's mother allowed them to take three mental health rest days every semester as long as they continued to do well in school.

The speaker began their mental health journey at the age of six, dealing with trauma-induced anxiety and clinical depression.

The speaker's grade-school teachers often called them a 'worrier,' which later turned out to be early signs of their mental health issues.

Mental health was not a widely discussed topic during the speaker's childhood, especially youth mental health.

The option to take mental health days was crucial for the speaker's well-being and success in school.

The speaker is now using the skills they learned as a child to help other students with mental health challenges.

The speaker emphasizes that everyone has mental health, even if not everyone has a diagnosed mental illness.

Mental health affects everyone and should be cared for in similar ways to physical health.

Mental illness can manifest in physical symptoms such as nausea, headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath.

During high school, the speaker realized mental health was a widespread issue, not just a personal one.

The speaker's hometown experienced multiple suicides, highlighting the community-wide impact of mental health issues.

In 2018, a forum with about 100 high school students revealed widespread mental health crises across different regions.

Suicide was identified as the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10 to 24 in Oregon.

The speaker helped form 'Students for a Healthy Oregon' to combat the stigma against mental health and prioritize it in schools.

House Bill 2191, which allows students to take mental health days off from school, was successfully passed in June 2019.

The new law helps initiate conversations about mental health between students and parents and allows schools to track mental health-related absences.

House Bill 2191 has inspired students in other states, like California and Colorado, to advocate for similar legislation.

The core concept of the bill is to treat physical and mental health as equal and interconnected.

The speaker envisions a world where everyone has a toolkit of skills to help manage mental health crises, similar to CPR training.

Schools should provide resources for mental health care, just as they do for physical health care.

It is always okay to not be okay and to take a break when needed, even if it's just for a few moments.

Pacing oneself and taking breaks are crucial for long-term success and well-being.

Mental health challenges are persistent, but as a society, we can learn to manage them by supporting each other.

The speaker encourages everyone to look after each other and themselves, taking breaks when necessary.

The speaker's mother's advice, 'Once in a while, take a break,' is a key takeaway for managing mental health.

Transcripts

Transcriber: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

When I was a kid,

my mom and I made this deal.

I was allowed to take three mental health rest days every semester

as long as I continued to do well in school.

This was because I started my mental health journey

when I was only six years old.

I was always what my grade-school teachers would call "a worrier,"

but later on we found out that I have trauma-induced anxiety

and clinical depression.

This made growing up pretty hard.

I was worried about a lot of things that other kids weren't,

and school got really overwhelming sometimes.

This resulted in a lot of breakdowns,

panic attacks --

sometimes I was super productive,

and other days I couldn't get anything done.

This was all happening during a time

when mental health wasn't being talked about

as much as it is now,

especially youth mental health.

Some semesters I used all of those rest days to the fullest.

Others, I didn't need any at all.

But the fact that they were always an option

is what kept me a happy, healthy and successful student.

Now I'm using those skills that I learned as a kid

to help other students with mental health challenges.

I'm here today to offer you some insight into the world of teenage mental health:

what's going on, how did we get here and what can we do?

But first you need to understand

that while not everyone has a diagnosed mental illness like I do,

absolutely everyone --

all of you have mental health.

All of us have a brain that needs to be cared for

in similar ways that we care for our physical well-being.

Our head and our body are connected by much more than just our neck after all.

Mental illness even manifests itself in some physical ways,

such as nausea, headaches, fatigue and shortness of breath.

So since mental health affects all of us,

shouldn't we be coming up with solutions that are accessible to all of us?

That brings me to my second part of my story.

When I was in high school

I had gotten pretty good at managing my own mental health.

I was a successful student,

and I was president of the Oregon Association of Student Councils.

But it was around this time that I began to realize

mental health was much a bigger problem than just for me personally.

Unfortunately, my hometown was touched by multiple suicides

during my first year in high school.

I saw those tragedies shake our entire community,

and as the president of a statewide group,

I began hearing more and more stories

from students where this had also happened in their town.

So in 2018 at our annual summer camp,

we held a forum with about 100 high school students

to discuss teenage mental health.

What could we do?

We approached this conversation with an enormous amount of empathy

and honesty,

and the results were astounding.

What struck me the most

was that every single one of my peers had a story

about a mental health crisis in their school,

no matter if they were from a tiny town in eastern Oregon

or the very heart of Portland.

This was happening everywhere.

We even did some research,

and we found out that suicide is the second leading cause of death

for youth ages 10 to 24 in Oregon.

The second leading cause.

We knew we had to do something.

So over the next few months,

we made a committee called Students for a Healthy Oregon,

and we set out to end the stigma against mental health.

We also wanted to prioritize mental health in schools.

With the help of some lobbyists and a few mental health professionals,

we put forth House Bill 2191.

This bill allows students to take mental health days off from school

the same way you would a physical health day.

Because oftentimes that day off

is the difference between feeling a whole lot better

and a whole lot worse --

kind of like those days my mom gave me when I was younger.

So over the next few months,

we lobbied and researched and campaigned for our bill,

and in June of 2019 it was finally signed into law.

(Applause and cheers)

This was a groundbreaking moment for Oregon students.

Here's an example of how this is playing out now.

Let's say a student is having a really hard month.

They're overwhelmed, overworked,

they're falling behind in school, and they know they need help.

Maybe they've never talked about mental health with their parents before,

but now they have a law on their side to help initiate that conversation.

The parent still needs to be the one to call the school and excuse the absence,

so it's not like it's a free pass for the kids,

but most importantly,

now that school has that absence recorded as a mental health day,

so they can keep track

of just how many students take how many mental health days.

If a student takes too many,

they'll be referred to the school counselor for a check-in.

This is important because we can catch students who are struggling

before it's too late.

One of the main things we heard at that forum in 2018

is that oftentimes stepping forward and getting help is the hardest step.

We're hoping that this law can help with that.

This not only will start teaching kids young how to take care of themselves

and practice self-care and stress management,

but it could also literally save lives.

Now students from multiple other states are also trying to pass these laws.

I'm currently working with students in both California and Colorado

to do the same,

because we believe that students everywhere

deserve a chance to feel better.

Aside from all the practical reasons and technicalities,

House Bill 2191 is really special because of the core concept behind it:

that physical and mental health are equal and should be treated as such.

In fact, they're connected.

Take health care for example.

Think about CPR.

If you were put in a situation where you had to administer CPR,

would you know at least a little bit of what to do?

Think to yourself --

most likely yes because CPR trainings are offered in most schools, workplaces

and even online.

We even have songs that go with it.

But how about mental health care?

I know I was trained in CPR in my seventh-grade health class.

What if I was trained in seventh grade how to manage my mental health

or how to respond to a mental health crisis?

I'd love to see a world where each of us has a toolkit of skills

to help a friend, coworker, family member

or even stranger going through a mental health crisis.

And these resources should be especially available in schools

because that's where students are struggling the most.

The other concept that I sincerely hope you take with you today

is that it is always OK to not be OK,

and it is always OK to take a break.

It doesn't have to be a whole day;

sometimes that's not realistic.

But it can be a few moments here and there to check in with yourself.

Think of life like a race ...

like a long-distance race.

If you sprint in the very beginning you're going to get burnt out.

You may even hurt yourself from pushing too hard.

But if you pace yourself,

if you take it slow, sometimes intentionally,

and you push yourself other times,

you are sure to be way more successful.

So please,

look after each other,

look after the kids and teens in your life

especially the ones that look like they have it all together.

Mental health challenges are not going away,

but as a society,

we can learn how to manage them by looking after one another.

And look after yourself, too.

As my mom would say,

"Once in a while, take a break."

Thank you.

(Applause)