Portage Northern is experiencing a mental health crisis. Students feel unseen, unheard, and don’t know who to turn to when needing help. Students should feel comfortable going to school staff seeking help, but all they get in return is bandaid on a deep wound.
Portage Public Schools website provides crisis hotlines and OK2SAY, that is a lack of resources. Students don’t use these resources, because it is barely spoken of. Resources should be provided constantly to students. It is not just this isolated district facing this issue, America as a whole is facing this crisis. The CDC reports that “58.5% of US teens always or usually receive the social and emotional support they need.” This percent of teens is arguably low. Two in five teens say that they are not getting the help that they need, they are going unheard, adults and school systems are the ones not providing enough resources to help teens.
The CDC also reports that four out of ten students have persistent feelings of hopelessness and sadness. Two out of ten students have had serious thoughts of ending their lives, and nearly one out of ten have attempted to end their life. The CDC provides suicide rates by state, in michigan, there have been 1,529 lives taken from suicide over the past year from with an age adjusted death rate of 14.93. The number will continue to increase if the school districts and adults don’t gain an understanding of mental health and help the teens in need…