Schools were ‘ringing the alarm bells’ on mental health. Will new NC student clubs help?

Demetra Marsh knows teens talk to each other about their mental health and what they’re dealing with day to day.

Marsh is a parent of two children — one middle school student and another who will be a sixth grader next year.

She’s also the PTA president at Renaissance West STEAM Academy and helping champion a new club at the Charlotte Pre-K-8 school that will give middle school students a place to discuss mental health. The goal, she says, is to build leadership and combat the stigma of talking about the topic.

“I see the importance of equipping students with the tools to talk about and cope with mental health and equipping adults with the tools to engage in conversation,” Marsh said.

Active Minds is an organization whose clubs want students to start conversations about mental health. The nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., is contacting Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and its middle schools to start clubs as early as next school year.

“Students lead the conversations with adult facilitators,” Lauren Cikara, the vice president of school mental health with Active Minds, told The Charlotte Observer. “It’s a club environment with a mental health literacy and advocacy lens. It’s not a clinical space.”

Active Minds has been in colleges and universities for two decades, including at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. It’s expanded to high schools and now will pilot the We Are Active Minds Middle School program in North Carolina, Florida and Minnesota starting in fall 2023.

The clubs also celebrate and promote diversity and inclusion, Cikara says.

Alison Malmon founded Active Minds when she was a junior at the University of Pennsylvania following the suicide of her older brother and only sibling, Brian.

Her organization says a majority of mental illnesses start between ages 14 and 24, and about 67% of young adults tell a friend they are suicidal before telling anyone else because of stigmas. It’s why Active Minds has created safe spaces for students at the high school and college — and now — middle school levels.

“We should be talking about mental health like we talk about physical health,” Cikara said. “We know peers are talking to each other to disclose what they’re going through. These clubs and chapters help youth elevate those conversations, and the facilitators help lead the conversations.”

“A huge resource”

The clubs formed in district schools will join investments CMS has made to make student mental health a priority since the pandemic started. The district budgeted $1.5 million of federal COVID relief for contracted mental health services.

The services are provided for uninsured and underinsured students who need mental health services. Roughly 290 students have taken advantage, attending a total of 1,500 therapy sessions since the summer. CMS also hired 63 counselors, social workers and psychologists, increasing social work student contacts by 50%.

“A lot of schools were ringing the alarm bells on student mental health before the pandemic,” Cikara said. “K-12 schools have known this is an issue — the pandemic just put an interesting spotlight on it by opening up the conversation.”

The club and investments also come as North Carolina’s students’ mental health tumble, according to a 2022 Healthy Active Children Policy report presented to the State Board of Education. In 2021, 33% of the state’s high school students said they felt alone in life, an increase from 19% in 2011, and 43% felt sad and hopeless, an increase from 28% in 2011, according to the report.

The percentage of the state’s middle schoolers feeling sad in 2021 increased 10% from 2011, from 25% to 35%. The percentage of North Carolina students who seriously considered attempting suicide also increased in 2021, according to the report.

Connie Cabbs, of the Mecklenburg County Council PTA, is sharing the Active Minds program with local middle school staff and parents. She calls it a huge resource for parents and educators.

“It is a brilliant way to engage young people in the conversations around mental health,” Cabbs said. “(It) provides a platform where students can collaborate with one another in order to create healthier mindsets that will promote healthier environments.”

Active Minds offers helplines for teens. Text or call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Reach a crisis text line by texting BRAVE to 741-741.

In North Carolina, the Hope4NC Helpline (1-855-587-3463) connect residents with emotional support and mental health resources to help build coping skills and resilience during times of crisis.

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