Mental health is important at all stages of life, from childhood and adolescence to adulthood. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects the way we think, feel and act. For this reason,  it can see long-term consequences such as suicide, whether in young people or adults. This happens all over the world whether it is due to the stress of work, school, or home.

For the student, Jefferson Pasochoa defines for himself what mental health is. “For me, I suppose that being able to distinguish the good from the bad and doing things from which I only obtain benefits, not letting myself be carried away by sentimentality since it is what most retains a person. person and in moments of tension not to get carried away by anger and always appear calm. I think.” 

When a person has mental health problems, they often feel isolated, frustrated, and overwhelmed. All areas of your life are affected, including the way you think, feel, and act. Liberty High School Assistant Principal Mr. Segura asked if he knew of any cases of depression at school, either with students or teachers, and he replied as follows, “In the case of teachers it is just stress since being a teacher is also a bit difficult. And in the students, I have known some cases but we realized in time, we had to call him to talk and advise, the good thing is that the situation did not escalate.”

Adolescents with mental disorders are particularly vulnerable to social exclusion, discrimination, stigmatization problems (which affect the willingness to seek help), educational difficulties, risk behaviors, and poor physical health.  The nurse at Liberty High School, Ms. Gabrielle told us that “Mental health is centered on the fact that no one is happy all the time because being very stressed or Being very depressed makes one unable to function, so I would say that mental health is being balanced and centered so that there is no extreme, it is the emotional and psychological aspects of how we think, act and feel.”

It is important to control stress because, as human beings, we must find a balance between both work and personal duties. 

For Ms. Gabrielle, it is necessary to control stress, “I believe that to have mental and emotional well-being, it is important to take care of your physical well-being. For this, it is important to sleep well, something that adolescents do not usually do, and do some type of physical activity that releases endorphins that help you feel better and have a support network. It is also very important to stay healthy, what goes through food, not eating so much sugar, processed foods, not so much fat, not smoking or drinking, and much less using drugs.”  We all feel stressed at some point or another. It is a normal and healthy reaction to a change or challenge. But stress that goes on for more than a few weeks can take a toll on your health.

Mental health disorders affect many people in the United States.

Mr. Segura told us that in the school we can find help. “We have counselors, Mr. Paterson, Mrs. Segarra, Ms. Chu, they help students if they feel depressed, if the situation that students encounter is serious, for example, if students want to harm themselves or kill themselves, we help them with organizations in which young people can go to a psychologist or a specialist in the subject. They also try to ensure that teachers have good communication with the students to know that they have stable mental health, either academically or socially, if teachers see something unusual they have to report it to the principal or assistant principals, we also have programs to make students feel at home as Catholic Charities.”