For many teenagers, it is hard to juggle stress, school, and other aspects of life. It has been proven in recent years that teenagers especially struggle with mental health, but here at Chandler High School, seniors Adriana Gildea and Dominic D’Amico try to spread awareness of mental health and teach others how to improve habits in everyday life through positivity, social media (@chs_mentalhealthmatters), and calming activities every Monday and Tuesday in room 122.
Adriana Gildea, president of the Mental Health Matters club, joined the club in her sophomore year because her friends encouraged her. For her, mental health is such an important topic to talk about because “most of my friends struggle with mental health. It is an overall important topic to share with others.” Throughout the years, Adriana realized how important mental health really is: “Looking over statistics and researching mental health has really opened my eyes to this topic; it makes me contemplate about how others think.” This is why she planned to create more outreach on campus and create more opportunities with underclassmen to reach out during the Club Fair and on social media with Dominic D’Amico. Adriana also explained that “we cover breathing tactics to take your mind off of things, we also plan relaxing activities during meetings” because the mission of the Mental Health Matters club is to educate students on how simple tasks such as chalk art, drawing in coloring books, or even chatting with others can calm anxiety during stressful times in school.
Dominic D’Amico, who manages publicity for the club, also joined because of friends who encouraged him to join the club for service hours and spreading awareness. For Dominic, the main objective of the Mental Health Matters club is to “bring awareness to mental health and how to get rid of bad habits, for example scrolling through your phone in the early hours of the day.” Dominic’s personal objective in this club is to give students a space to talk about mental health and show them that doing activities within the club can break a stressful routine: “All students do is wake up, go to school, do schoolwork, go home, do homework, sleep, then repeat.” Dominic believes that addressing bad habits such as these will help create better habits and better routines to promote brain growth in the future. He suggested that students prioritize making lunch a time for managing your mental health: “Eat your lunch and just wind down by coloring instead of rushing to do homework or presentations, be in the moment and be away from screens.”
Being able to talk freely in a space gives power to students to be themselves, and the Mental Health Matters Club wants to make this happen for students across campus. If you or anyone you know wants to join Mental Health Matters, meetings are on Mondays during B lunch and Tuesdays after school in room 122, or follow their Instagram @chs_mentalhealthmatters
