By Ilona Nummelin, Betty Mi and Simba Assefa (Y9)
Everyone has had one of those days when assignments pile up, your phone won’t stop buzzing, and everything just feels overwhelming. While stress is a normal part of life, it can sometimes build up into something more serious. For our Year 9 Innovate project, we researched mental health in our school with the help of Terre des Hommes. In a recent survey that we sent to people in our year, many reported feeling stressed or overwhelmed on a regular basis. We are writing this article in hopes of spreading awareness about the impacts of mental health. Here is the data that we collected:
Have you ever struggled with mental health?
I suppose the fact that we only got 8 responses doesn’t reflect the whole school, but we can still conclude that largely over half of the people that responded do or have struggled with mental health. This shows that mental health challenges are far more common among students than many people might assume, and shows the importance of creating supportive environments where people feel comfortable asking for help.
How often do people feel stressed?
Interestingly, from all the students who responded, half reported experiencing stress at least sometimes, while half said that they feel it often. This shows how common pressure and overwhelm can be, especially during school life.
Do people feel comfortable talking about mental health?
I was honestly not very surprised when I saw the data, as even though nowadays it is often normalised to talk about mental health in school and at home, it can often make you feel uncomfortable or vulnerable to talk about your feelings. Though it is important to find someone you can talk to. Fear of judgment, embarrassment, or not knowing how others might react are often reasons why it can be hard to talk about your feelings.
What are the most common reasons for mental health problems?
Our survey showed that self-image and school pressure were the biggest things affecting students’ mental health, both getting 42.9% of responses. There’s pressure to get good grades, pressure to look a certain way, and pressure to just feel like you’re doing “enough” in general. A lot of students are dealing with this kind of stress more than you might think. Social life came up less, but it still clearly affects some people, too. Overall, it shows that mental health isn’t just about one thing; it’s a mix of different pressures that come up in everyday school life.
How to help your friend?
Lastly, we wanted to see if people already knew what to do if their friend was struggling with mental health problems, and the results showed that they do. Once again, I feel like in school we already learn so much about what to do if your friend or you are struggling, that it wasn’t a big surprise to see these (even though only 4 people responded) people know what the smart thing to do in these situations. This is a really positive result because it shows that students do care about each other and would want to help if someone close to them were having a hard time. At the same time, it also raises the question of whether people always feel confident about how to help, or if they sometimes just do their best in the moment.
Tips from Terre des Hommes
We interviewed a mental health specialist, Maria Bray, at Terre des hommes to get a professional’s perspective on what to do in these situations. Here is what we discovered:
– One of the main points was that listening can make a bigger difference than people think. Just being there for someone, letting them talk, and not judging what they say can already be really helpful. It was also mentioned that you don’t have to “fix” everything for your friend; sometimes, the most important thing is making sure they don’t feel alone.
– Another important idea was that if things seem serious, it’s really important to encourage a friend to talk to a trusted adult, like a parent, teacher, or school counsellor. Supporting someone doesn’t mean handling everything by yourself, but rather helping them get the right support.
– Overall, the key message was that small actions—like checking in, listening, and showing you care- can make a real difference.
Thank you: Terre des hommes, Isabel Zbinden and Maria Bray!