In an effort to foster greater awareness of mental health, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) launched a four week mental health campaign on October 16. All MCPS schools were required to show students a short video discussing mental health, and a mental health tip was shared daily with students from October 16 to October 26.
MCPS will have a mental health and wellness fair on October 27 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Julius West Middle School in Rockville as well.
Individual schools have begun developing their own programs to support students’ mental health. Takoma Park Middle School, for example, begins each day with a “mindfulness minute” to help students ground themselves and start the day in a relaxed frame of mind. Gaithersburg Elementary has mindfulness rooms where students can go to collect their thoughts.
Hubert Blake High School offers several extracurricular activities designed to strengthen the bonds between students. Walter Johnson High school has a website with links to mental health resources and sponsors a chapter of Sources of Strength, a nationwide suicide-prevention program that trains peer leaders and staff to provide support to struggling students and promote community connections.
Although many students seems pleased with this new course of action, some are skeptical.
“I don’t think it’ll do much,” says Ava Tuncer, senior at Walter Johnson. “It seems like a way to cover the bases. Maybe it’s a start, but the schools need to do more to cause real change.” WJ Junior Maddie Grant agrees. She thinks these new actions taken by MCPS might help students, but worries that many won’t pay attention.
Whether or not these mental health initiatives have a long lasting impact remains to be seen, but it is abundantly clear that MCPS is actively working to support positive mental health in all students.
Article by MoCo Student staff writer Shannon Engel of Walter Johnson High School.