SCL’s annual Break the Stigma event brought together conversation, art and games to raise awareness about teenage mental health. Featuring eight mental health organizations on Jan. 23, that evening was Los Altos High School’s first independent mental health awareness event.
“Our students have a lot of pressure on them,” SCL Activities Commissioner junior Eytan Frank said. “We have a lot of resources, but sometimes they’re not easily accessible, or people are too shy to get them.”
Entering the main gym Friday night, students were greeted with a pamphlet detailing ways to eliminate the shame that accompanies mental health struggles and resources to foster emotional well-being.
The event also featured student-run clubs, such as the Mental Health Awareness Club, who sought to start open conversations between peers about mental health.
“People talk and joke about mental health, but they don’t take it seriously around here, especially with the academics in the Bay Area,” Mental Health Awareness Club secretary junior Joyce Liu said.
Mental Health Awareness Club collaborates with LAHS counselors to encourage students to share their struggles with trusted adults.
“Counselors are so helpful, but the risk of referral makes students scared to share their stories,” Joyce said. “We want to work with students and counselors to help lower that barrier.”
For SCL, the event also reflected a wider effort to change conversations about mental health on campus.
“At school, we put up this facade that we have everything under control, and I think it’s a lot more relatable when some of us don’t,” SCL member senior Ella Omura said. “If we’re relating to each other, that builds a better community where we all understand each other.”
SCL also collaborated with non-school-affiliated organizations for the event, including Youth Community Services (YCS). YCS provides service opportunities to teenagers in the Bay Area, with a goal of developing social-emotional wellness through service-based learning.
At their table, YCS high school programs manager Aubrey Parke shared the organization’s online platform where students could find projects and track volunteer hours.
“We always try to come to events like these where students are leading,” Parke said. “It’s more comfortable for youth to get support if they see their peers doing it too.”
In previous years, LAHS held an annual suicide-prevention Unity Walk in collaboration with Mountain View High School. This year, SCL opted to host LAHS’s own independent event, with Eytan leading the organizing.
“There hadn’t been great communication between the two schools, so we decided to work on it ourselves,” Eytan said. “We knew that this event was super important for LAHS.”
Other SCL members echo this passion.
“We wanted to make space for mental health,” Ella said. “The students here are involved in so many things, it is important to take breaks and prioritize your mental health. Let’s break the stigma.”
