Mental health awareness must reach the school board if student mental health is to improve. Student action and voices help to foster awareness and progress towards this goal.
Camille Garcia currently facilitates the Wellness Center at Sonoma Valley High School’s (SVHS) campus. Becoming a marriage and family therapist, she worked with both teens and adults. When Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) initiated efforts to open up positions to bring mental health services to students, she immediately applied because she knew that she wanted to come back to working both with kids and here in Sonoma Valley.”
Garcia leads a diverse group of students called the Wellness Youth Council (WYC). This group exists on campus because Garcia believes that “you really can’t create Wellness Centers. . . without having student voice involved.” This is a shared opinion between Garcia and me.
Each month, the WYC discusses mental health issues around campus and brings forth solutions to bridge the gap between the student body and adults. As students relay situations and happenings around campus to Garcia, she uses these observations to tailor responsive programming, using the support of the student voice. This bridge is essential to making a difference.
Garcia highlights the importance of mental health awareness at the high school level to help students know what experiences are normal and “when to seek help and also when to help your friend get help too,” because of teen tendencies to seek out each other before adults. She also emphasizes reducing shame and stigma for emotions, stating that it is no different than seeking out help for something physical. This is, of course, necessary as we move further into the 21st century. Our world is becoming more and more aware of the issues that have remained hidden, and our student voice is a gateway to that awareness.
The SVUSD Board of Trustees held a meeting on Oct. 9, and as usual, they had a student presentation. This meeting featured SVHS’s WYC.
Garcia asked if students of the WYC were willing to speak because, according to her, “I do my best to be an advocate for [mental health], but I always think that it’s best when it comes directly from students. . . It’s just so much more impactful to have their voices heard.” Other students and I spoke at the meeting.
Garcia’s core belief about why this presentation was important is that many people, especially members of the school Board of Trustees who make such paramount decisions, do not understand how the Wellness Center functions, and this presentation will serve to inform the board of the resources students have access to on campus.
This feat was a major step. It is important for this work to be seen. The WYC presentation validates teenage experiences and boosts awareness of the help that students receive at the Wellness Center. There is no need to suffer in silence, and the student voice puts us a step closer to that.
With the aid of student voice informing the adults of the district of these issues, student quality of life will noticeably improve as discussion around the topic of mental health becomes more prevalent, informed, and destigmatized.
Student voice is a matter not to be taken lightly. Talking about it is necessary if we are to improve upon the systems and services that we currently have.
