On January 20th, 2022, our group had a conversation with the LREI high school mental health team, Ty, Joanne, and Andy. Ty job title is mental health director, Joanne is a school psychologist and Andy is the mental health intern. They told us all about their role in the community and how they help students. Our school is priviledged enough to have extensive mental health resources.

They provided fascinating information on what we can do to help our peers and what they are doing to protect students mental health. One fundamental way they provide support for students is by always having their offices open throughout the day, Joanne told us she lets students rest or even sleep in her office if they’re struggling concentrate inn class. One thing Ty said that really resonated with me was his explanation for how detrimental homework is for students mental health and how it leads to students not being able to stay attentive in class, he compared homework to a job making an employee work overtime except homework is completely mandatory. Students are expected to go to school for 7 hours, complete homework, have a healthy social life and sleep schedule which is nearly impossible and unachievable. They also shared that they have interacted with and relationships most of the students in the high school and emphasized how nearly the entire school is struggling.