STUDENT ACTION BOARD
Our first solution is to implement a student action board in the CUSD district. At the beginning of the year, every junior high school and high school would have a couple students represent their school's student body. These students would have monthly meeting with the superintendent, the school board and teachers. This will ensure that there is a student voice throughout the whole year from each school. Each school is different. Depending on their student population, income levels, diversity levels, and location - each schools struggles are also different. This is why it so important to represent every school. Our action board will fuel conversations about mental health struggles. This reduces the stigma and encourages others to speak up. Our school board needs to hear our students voices. No one knows more about teen struggles than teens, which means we can come up with some of the best ideas to fix it.
MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID TRAINING
We also need to implement this training. This training is provided by the National Council For Mental Wellbeing. They have a program for teens, and a program for adults. This program would teach us all so much about mental health and how to help students in crisis. Their program covers topics such as depression disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use, trauma, and psychosis. It also teaches a mental health action plan - for students that may be experiencing something like a panic attack, suicidal thoughts, overdose, or reaction to trauma. These are hard situations to assess and this training will teach you ways to do it. These programs will make us all more knowledgeable on the signs of suicidal ideation and other mental illnesses. Suicide is preventable - and this program teaches us ways to prevent it.