Over the past year or so, mental health has been under a microscope more than ever. More attention is being brought to issues plaguing the population, particularly students. Young adolescents and teenagers are under immense pressure that has gone unaddressed for too long. It can be difficult to balance all of the expectations and obligations of high school life. In light of this new attention, I have dedicated my time to focus on improving mental wellness at my high school in New Jersey.

 For those who do not know, the Girl Scout Gold Award is an individual service project that involves at least eighty hours of community service working to solve a community issue. It has more specific requirements including a global link, potential for continuity, and the demonstration of leadership by the Girl Scout. My Gold Award focused on mental wellness among students in my high school. I worked closely with the guidance department, administration, and student clubs such as SADD.

The first part of my project was research, which including searching online about available resources and speaking to the student body. I created a survey and shared it with the school. Based on the responses of the survey, it was clear that students felt that mental health was overlooked by the school faculty and wanted more. Students said that mental wellness was not integrated into the classroom and rarely addressed. This made it clear that students needed more support.

 As I researched about mental health resources, I realized that the issue in my community was not necessarily a lack of resource providers related to mental health. In fact, there were plenty of different groups and plenty of students who could benefit from mental health resources, but no connecting link between the two. In order to mend this, I planned a Mental Health Resource Fair for my peers. The fair took place in the media center during lunch periods on May 23rd, 2019. There were over fifteen organizations represented by either an at-event agent or paper materials about their services, covering a variety of issues from eating disorders to depression and anxiety to general psychiatric wellness. During their lunch, students could come in and speak to these groups without the pressure of drawing attention to themselves. There were interactive activities and a visit from local therapy dogs. Students were extremely interested and the resource providers were kind, friendly, and did a fantastic job explaining their organizations.

 I wrote a survey for students to take as they left the fair. Many students felt more informed of their options and where to seek mental health support. They also expressed a desire to have the opportunity to attend a fair again, possibly for a longer period and with even more resources. The general sentiment was that attending the fair was worthwhile and something they would do in the future.

The Mental Health Resource Fair was a valuable experience for me as a leader, to have planned and executed it, but made more meaningful to know that it helped my community. It would not have been possible without the support of the guidance department, administration, and the cooperation of all the different organizations who participated. I strongly urge other students to take action and consider doing the same at their own school. Particularly for those in New Jersey, there are a myriad of organizations willing to donate their time to educate students. Because this is a Gold Award project, I am responsible for passing on the information that I learned through completing the fair.