Administrators, professionals share mental health resources

Despite stigma that students struggling with mental health issues have no one to turn to, resources are available for student health both at the school and professional level.  

At the school level, social worker Leland Schardt and school psychologist Jim Landers are on-campus, free resources for all students. Along with in person support, students can seek help anonymously and over the phone by calling 211, a referral service that can be used during immediate crisis or to find more information.  

“Sometimes kids come to us, sometimes parents come to us, sometimes friends come to us and say we are really concerned about someone,” Landers said. “Often times though, kids come to us with one problem, like schoolwork or feeling stressed out, and then these other pieces of the puzzle come into play. As we look at how we can help this piece, we learn about other pieces of the puzzle, so we try to help them with all those pieces to settle the lines back down to let them have a little more control.” 

Professionally, according to the medical director of psychiatry at John’s Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Mark Cavitt, there are many different types of support for adolescents. Cavitt recommends considering only evidence-based therapies, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, most appropriate for anxiety disorders, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, used for mood regulation, and Interpersonal therapy, proven to treat depression. 

Along with therapies, FDA-approved psychotropic medicines are available to be used in conjunction with therapies. Despite stigmas, medicines and counseling are typically on time-limited models that aim to stabilize symptoms of the disorder, Cavitt said.  

“I think the other myth about psychotropic meds is that they somehow fundamentally change the people on, what their personalities are like,” Cavitt said. “The medications don’t make you somebody else.  I would argue that they simply help you be yourself without anxiety, without depression, without psychosis. They don’t change one’s fundamental personality or being.” 

Cavitt recommends seeking help if symptoms are repeatedly interfering with life functions, such as maintaining friendships, in different settings.  

“We all have anxiety, we should all have anxiety because that’s functional and normal,” Cavitt said. “But when you have too much anxiety that it interferes with function, then that may be the key sign that it’s time to get some help.”