2
Supporting the Mental Health Needs and Challenges of High School Students
Source One: A creative approach to supporting young students with mental health
challenges
Summary: The first article I reviewed was:
Harris, D. X., & Holman Jones, S. (2024). A creative ecological approach to supporting young
people with mental health challenges in schools.International Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education,37(2), 372-383.9https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2233938
This article uses a creative ecologies model to help schools implement student- and family-led
support programs for students experiencing mental health challenges in school settings. (Harris,
D & Holman, S. J. 2024).
This article is designed to give information about how to help support the mental health needs
and challenges that high school students face today.
Critique:
Studies conducted in recent years by Harris and Holman Jones (2024) present strong, convincing
evidence for high schools to incorporate varieties of mental health services into the buildings and
activities that make up the school. In both sets of researchers’ investigations, the focus groups
they interacted with—students, teachers, administrators, and school secretaries—shared the same
core belief: mental health services need to be as robust and effective as possible in a high school
environment. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that the healthy mental states of high school
students are imperative for society. This article shows how different studies and interventions
have been effective in boosting adolescent mental health. Comprehensive mental health
programs, it argues, that art can make a huge difference in the lives of students going through
3
some of the most difficult years of their lives. And in so doing, the article takes some steps
toward untangling the mysterious relationship between teenage depression and the academic
performance of our high school children.
Personal Reaction:
My personal reaction was that while this article takes a look at Bipolar Disorder among high
school students and mental health illness, it focuses on just one major issue and not a complete
diorama of why mental health illness is so prevalent among high school students.
Application:
[“Access to art materials creates opportunities to develop relationships with peers, drawing on
evidence that suggests that engaging in non-directed and open-ended art-making helps youth
develop creative skills that reinforce personal competence and connections By taking a strengths-
based approach to Matthew's need to express and sometimes regulate his emotions, all members
of the school can share in growing their knowledge of BPD and the emotional diversities in their
community.”] (Harris, D & Holman, S. J 2024). While this article does relate to the topic of
mental health among high school students, it focuses primarily on one case study of a male
subject with Bipolar Disorder. This article will be somewhat helpful in the future as it focuses on
ways to help struggling high school students with mental health issues through art therapy.
4
Source Two: What teachers need to support students’ mental health
Summary: The second article I reviewed was:
Shelemy, L., Harvey, K., & Waite, P. (2019). Supporting students' mental health in schools:
What do teachers want and need?Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties,24(1), 100-
116. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632752.2019.1582742
This article was designed to help teachers have a better understanding of common mental health
problems in young people. “This study aims to identify the training needs of secondary school
teachers to enable them to adequately support and educate their students around mental health.”
(Shelemy, L., Harvey, K., & Waite, P 2019).
Critique:
This article has shown that high schools are well-served by the availability of
enhanced mental health resources. Why? Because they have been clearly proven to
serve a critical purpose with twofold effectiveness, working as both an academic
booster and a life skill developer. The formula laid out in high schools by the three
paths to mental health clearly creates a remarkable and nonchemical basis for
mental wellness, and this effect is already taking place in many places with many
students. The research conducted by eminent scholars in the field, Shelemy et al.
(2019), intensifies the persuasion that sound mental health delivery in schools and
institutions of higher education is not just a desirable or ideal condition but a
compelling requisite; it is an urgent, imperative, and an ethical demand as much as
it is an academic and public health one. However, we must admit that our current
models and design for extending a helping hand to individuals with compromised
5
mental health seem inadequate. There has to be something more, something
different, and something better that we can do.
Personal Reaction:
Gazing ahead, we should be encouraged by how strong this fundamental aspect of
mental health care has become inside high schools and should prompt serious
investigations of all innovative programs that could be applied in different school
settings. If well-implemented in both rural and urban educational contexts and
seemingly disparate ones in between, they could foster not only well-versed and
mentally capable students but also a next generation that is prepared academically
and personally for the otherwise mentally tough world beyond the school, capable
in their own right and not likely to become prey to avoidable mental health
problems of their own.
Application:
This article should help teachers head in the right direction to find solutions to mental health
issues among high school and college students. The article was very interesting and very
insightful. Studies were conducted on how “Collaboration and consultation with teachers is
necessary to properly develop school-based mental health services, programs and whole-school
changes.” (Shelemy, L., Harvey, K., & Waite, P 2019). One important thought in this article that
had a profound affect on me was: “Existing mental health training programs need to evaluate
their acceptability to teachers and focus their materials on teachers’ needs.” (Shelemy, L.,
7
References
Harris, D. X., & Holman Jones, S. (2024). A creative ecological approach to supporting young
people with mental health challenges in schools.International Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education,37(2), 372-383.9https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2233938
Shelemy, L., Harvey, K., & Waite, P. (2019). Supporting students' mental health in schools:
What do teachers want and need?Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties,24(1), 100-
116. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632752.2019.1582742
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
