Assessing resources available for students coping with mental health concerns

Amanda Neve

Health 102: Community Health Organizations

California State University, Channel Islands

December 2019
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Being a mom of young kids I am often on the lookout for great babysitters. I have found

a handful of great teenagers through my local church and neighborhood to help me watch my

girls when I have classes to attend or errands to run. I often see these girls feeling overwhelmed

or frustrated by the workload they have in highschool. My needs assessment will evaluate the

support that is available for highschool students concerning their mental health.

Moorpark Highschool is a public school teaching grades 9-12. There are approximately

1900 kids enrolled with an average teacher to student ratio of 1:24. Minority enrollment is 55%

of the student body (majority Hispanic), which is lower than the California state average of 76%.

(US News, 2019); Moorpark High is a park of Moorpark School District, located in Ventura

county. The country schools are funded by the state, and the district decides how to spend the

funds based on the needs of the community as well as the students. Moorpark High does have

Advanced Placement courses available along with honors classes. This helps the students be

competitive when it comes to college applications. The school is known to have a lot of clubs

and extracurricular activities for the students. The student body seems to appreciate this as it

keeps them involved and helps them to make new friends.

I was able to sit down and talk to each student individually about what concerns they had

about their health in anyway while attending highschool. I was surprised to learn that each girl

was most worried about her mental health. It wasn’t bullying, or nutrition that was on the

forefront of their minds, but how they were dealing with the stresses of school work mixed with

their social lives. As mentioned about Moorpark Highschool has advanced placement classes and

honors classes available to push the students towards better learning. Although this is great it is
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also what caused a lot of stress and anxiety for the students. The pressure to excel was sometimes

inhibiting. Some students would turn to drugs such as Adderall. They thought this would give

them the extra energy and focus they would need when finals week came along. After

interviewing each girl I turned to the district to see what type of help was available for those

struggling to find balance in their lives. It was very difficult to find any information on resources

or people to call for help. The Moorpark Highschool website has a lot of info on testing dates,

sporting events, counselor appointments for scheduling, but nothing on mental health services.

Next I turned to the district website. I again was unable to find any resources on who to contact

or where to turn if a student was feeling depressed. There was plenty of information on

immunizations, testing, and tutoring resources. Nothing for individual counseling, nothing about

depression, anxiety, or other mental health concerns. I asked the young women after conducting

my research if they knew who to turn to if they needed help. Each of them said no. They couldn’t

think of posters, or announcement giving them information of where to turn if they needed help.

I was astonished. Even if the school did have these resources they were not conveniently

available. R.C. (initials used to keep confidentiality) sent me a picture of the back of her ID card.

After some searching she said this is the only place she found that had information on mental

health. On the back of her ID was a phone number, a hotline, students could call if they needed.

The lack of information available for mental health resources was concerning. The U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services reported in 2017 21% of males and 41% of females

felt sad or hopeless everyday for at least 2 weeks (Department of Health, 2017). This is almost

half of the student body that is in need of some support. I reached out to the school to see what

information they could give me. When talking to one of the counselors they did have more
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information for the students, the students just needed to reach out and ask. The students are able

to turn to the school nurse, the school counselors, their teachers, coaches, or administration. The

counselor I spoke with pointed out that all these people are available and ready to help the

students in any form of crisis. There are also peer groups for those dealing with anxiety and

depression. They also had resources in L.A. if any students were dealing with bulimia or

anorexia. Teachers were given special handbooks to review post crisis such as wildfires, or

shootings. They had teacher inservices to review warning signs of students who may need help.

The district website also has a page about crisis situations. This page listed a few websites, a

hotline to call, along with an app to download for students, teachers, or parents to review. I was

happy to know that there were resources available, even if it was difficult to find them.

I can see the importance of change when it comes to mental health and our community,

specifically towards the students attending highschool. The stresses that kids deal with may at

times be overwhelming and difficult for them to navigate. The pressures that come from social

media can cause a decrease in self esteem. One of the students I spoke with said the pressures of

getting the best scores in her advanced placement classes seem to overtake her life. At times she

felt she was missing out on enjoying being a teenager. A strong support system, either at home or

at school is important to make sure the kids feel like they have somewhere or someone to turn to.

I would like to see a change in the availability of resources. High School students may need the

information presented to them often, and in different ways for it to stick. Some may feel like it

does not relate to them one year, and the next be searching for comfort. Perhaps a mental health

check in appointment could be blended into the counseling appointment student have with their

counselors when reviewing their grades or next semester schedule. Continuing to be open to the
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conversation and honest with resources available when help is needed could make a difference

for one student.

This picture was submitted by R.C. I asked her to look

around campus to see if she could find any information of

where to turn to if she felt, sad, helpless or depressed. The

hotline on the back of her card is all she found.

This picture was submitted by M.M. She ​brought

up a religious group and how there is

friendship available in them. “A lot of negative

is pushing on us and giving us lots of stress.”

She said, “Being able to find comfort in a

group of people who share values with you

can greatly increase your mental health.”

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This picture was submitted by S.W. She wrote, “This is

demonstrating how our mental health is affected by all
the homework and notes we have to take and how it can
stress people out and take up all our time. Which can
also decrease our social interaction and amount of sleep
we get.”
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Resources

U.S. News, Education. (2019, September 29). Explore Moorpark High School. Retrieved from

https://www.niche.com/k12/moorpark-high-school-moorpark-ca/.

Department of Health. (2017, November 15). United States Adolescent Mental Health Facts.

Ventura County Office of Education. Communications. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.vcoe.org