2022 Mental Health Essay Contest Awardee: Honorable Mention

Countless Approaches

Norah, Maryland

There are infinite ways to start an essay. Whether opening with a rhetorical question, famous quote, anecdote, or an unconventional one-liner, the opportunities when it comes to writing are endless.

The versatility of writing has always enchanted me. Despite my rigid life plan, writing has always provided me with an outlet and a way to tell my story.

I am a procrastinator… A I’ll turn it in ten minutes before the deadline kind of procrastinator. Here I am, six hours before the deadline of this essay contest, just now beginning to write.

I have known about this contest for about a month. Nevertheless, every time I have sat down to write it my hands become clammy, and the roof of my mouth goes dry. Suddenly, my body becomes numb and my thoughts are but a faint buzzing blocked by the cloudiness of my mind.

When submitting to previous writing contests, I have attempted to share a lot of stories, but never my own. At first, I considered flexing my impressive record with mental health advocacy in order to win you over…

I have testified to the Montgomery County Board of Education about requiring the number of school psychologists available within the county to become closer to the ideal ratio of one psychologist to five-hundred students. At the time that I testified, Montgomery County, one of the wealthiest counties in the country, had a ratio of one school psychologist to one-thousand seven-hundred and forty-two students. These numbers may be improving, but they are still nowhere near what is necessary to function efficiently.

Over the course of the pandemic, I was on the founding leadership team for Uplift, a club started at my high school to destigmatize mental health through open conversations between students. Although it was slow to catch fire, when it finally did, it blazed, and since then I have been given countless opportunities to change the lives of those who come after me.

A week ago, I was able to participate in a conversation between staff and other students at my school on how to make schools within Montgomery County more equitable. One thing that stuck out to me was the inner turmoil that many minorities face. As a white woman, I do not see them myself, but that absolutely doesn’t mean that they do not exist. There, in a circle, surrounded by dozens of people of color who have undergone the cruelty that is racism, I saw the exhaustion and despair that contorted their faces. When I listened instead of fighting back, I could see the anxiety leaving their eyes. It became apparent to me that the battle against deteriorating wills and mentalities was more than just a two- dimensional domestic issue…It was a cultural and racial one as well.

What this country needs to fight for is equal access to mental health resources. Not only this, but there must be diversity within said resources. Different cultures have different approaches concerning mental health, and if we strayed from this very euro-centered vision of therapy, we would have more underrepresented teenagers reaching out for help.

And while this is all true, this doesn’t paint the full picture as to why I am so dedicated to mental health advocacy. For the past month, I have spent hours brainstorming ways in which to make this essay perfect. “Perfect” is the exact reason why I was never able to start this essay, and why my own mental health has plummeted within the past couple of years.

Throughout my entire life I have been considered gifted. A top student at one of the best high schools in the country and over five leadership positions to compliment my perfect GPA, I have it all. My parents are happily married, and I have numerous friends scattered about all of the different cliques that encompass high school. What would possibly cause me to spiral into a depressive episode or anxiety attack?

As contradicting as this sounds, my weaknesses lie within my strengths. The higher I achieve, the more scared I am to fall. Without constant validation, whether through my grades or extracurriculars, I feel as though my value is reduced to a terrifying state of nothingness.

School became a battleground for my emotions. There were points in class where I could feel my head splitting apart and nausea roll over my body in waves. My heart would skip a beat, as I struggled to grasp the level of perfection that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did not obtain.

I am aware that I am not the poster child for depression or anxiety. Extroverted and high-achieving, I have never walked the halls knowing that others are aware of my battles. Millions of teenagers can relate to this. Mental health is often something society swears that it can see, when really the destruction is littered underneath the surface. Schools across the country need to make the effort to reach out to their students. Without this basis of trust and communication, students will continue to shrivel themselves up into disappearance. Just like starting an essay, there are countless embodiments of mental health struggles. All are valid and deserve aid.

I still stand by my earlier statements. We need more school psychologists available, and we need psychologists from all different walks of life. I end this essay with a modified segment of my testimony to the Board of Education:

Amber Alert, Megan’s Law, the Ryan White CARE Act, and countless others all have one thing in common…They’re named after victims. These national laws all demonstrate a horrific pattern within our country. Why are we waiting for children to become victims before we change our policies?

NIH recognizes these talented essay winners for their thoughtfulness and creativity in addressing youth mental health. These essays are written in the students' own words, are unedited, and do not necessarily represent the views of NIH, HHS, or the federal government.

Page updated September 20, 2022