Opinion: Normalize Taking Breaks, or Risk the Greatest Youth Pandemic of All Time: Mental Breakdowns
By Kristen Lew, Global High School Fellow (Northwood High School ‘24 — Irvine, California)
At the turn of the 20th century, novel research transformed the entire field of social science from the domination of biological and Darwinian eucharist perspectives where mental deviations were seen as biological faults in those who are less “fit” in the environment to understanding mental illness from a situational perspective based upon unique social circumstances. When leading psychologists and psychiatrists convened in the first International Congress on Mental Hygiene in 1933, five key objectives were established as goals of the mental hygiene movement: to raise awareness that adverse childhood experiences are mental health concerns, to understand the critical period of early childhood where deviant behavior could grow into extreme disorders, to establish institutional programs promoting mentally healthy environments, to create community forces that support mental well-being, and finally to have mental health principles be recognized and integrated into all areas of society.
Since then, psychologists have propagated the concept of mental health, and over time it has become a globally recognized aspect of both personal and social well-being. Across industries, individuals, especially teens, are encouraged to learn how to healthfully process stressful experiences. But even after all of these years, why is mental health still not completely normalized in schools or the workforce? Why does the stigma around mental health, which discriminates against struggling individuals by viewing them as weak, still exist today? What structures are put in place to allow students to take care of their mental health unapologetically? Why is adolescent mental health a growing crisis, as recognized by the U.S. Surgeon General?
A new struggle arises as millions of burnt-out adolescents lack the mental support they need to promote the well-being of themselves and those around them. This critical, widespread issue calls for a global initiative to relieve the youth mental health crisis.
The root cause of this global crisis could be attributed to the invalidation of mental health in society which heavily affects our current generations. Social stereotypes aggravate the mental health stigma such that those with mental illnesses are treated as inferior in society and are seen as invalid. Not only does this cause many teen students to struggle to balance the rising challenges of everyday life from heavy school workloads to family or financial responsibilities, but it also prevents individuals from seeking the professional support they may need. In all aspects of mental health, there are significant issues when it comes to equity, accessibility, and affordability of mental health care. The invalidation of mental health is also reflected when it is not given the same weight as physical health. The concept of mental health is invisible to the untrained eye, and even in our current day and age where it is more recognized by society, public policy still needs to reflect our transforming worldviews to uplift the teen mental health crisis.
In many regions internationally, mental health is especially overlooked in educational spaces. Schools and institutions commonly participate in temporary, performative mental health awareness activities without effective, sustainable solutions.
Working with the U.S. national non-profit organization Girls Inc., I spearheaded GRL PAC (Girl-Ran Leadership Political Activist Committee): a coalition campaigning for the federal protection of student mental health rights. Our focus is to create sustainable solutions to support students’ mental well-being by advocating for federal policy that will grant a quota number of mental health days for students to take a break from school to take care of themselves, no questions asked.
Studies have shown that mental health days are vital tools that youth today should have the right to leverage. By providing mental health days as a part of a student’s rights, they have the opportunity to reduce feelings of burnout from academic and social pressures, improve resiliency to challenges, increase productivity upon return to school, reduce long-term absenteeism, improve their physical health, and prevent future mental health crisis, especially for individuals struggling with mental illness.
Despite the benefits of mental health days, only 12 out of 50 states in the U.S. have currently established some form of mental health excused absence policy; however, many of these state laws are short amendments with much unclearness that also display great disparity from one another. The lack of a policy put into place for students to take a single day off for self-care and reset their behaviors makes taking a break feel impossible.
Don’t all students across the U.S. and the globe experience mental health? Why aren’t mental health days not granted to all students in the U.S. if some states already have such policies? Are students in states with mental health excused absence policies made aware of their rights and are these policies enforced in schools? Would students internationally benefit from a federally protected mental health student rights policy from their own respective nations? To investigate these concerns, we surveyed over 5,100 students in U.S. states
(Washington, California, Illinois, Virginia, Maine, Connecticut, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Kentucky, and Colorado) with a mental health excused absence policy and 1,200 students from just over 30 countries. Results found that 31.3% of students felt “not supported” by their schools in terms of mental health, and the majority 41.4% experienced “little support” from those environments. Additionally, 86.9% of all students who completed the survey found that a mental health excused absence policy would be extremely beneficial to deal with the workload and stress of their personal and academic lives. In states and countries outside of the 12 U.S. states with mental health absence policies, 92.4% of students reported not being aware or not having access to any mental health day they could use to support themselves. When asked how students take breaks from school if needed for their mental health, several reported either continuing to burn themselves out or calling in sick for a physical illness. Finally, for students in the mentioned 12 U.S. states, 94.9% report that their school has never informed them that mental health days count as excused absences.
These preliminary statistics demonstrate the extreme lack of action that is being taken to solve this global youth crisis. Normalizing mental health breaks is the solution to relieving the common breakdowns of millions of burnt-out students across the world. It is the first step that local and international policymakers could take to change the scope of access to mental health rights and resources. It is the door that opens up a way to relieve the stigma around mental health when institutions will then recognize its importance and families would no longer have to lie about their students taking a physical “sick day.” This is why GRL PAC is advocating for mental health excused absences to be federally enforced, encouraged, and exposed to all students, but we cannot do it alone.
We urge everyone, from government officials to educators to students all across the world, to recognize this critical issue and be willing to take action. World leaders must commit to granting students equity in mental health resources through various rights, such as mental health days, at a national level in their respective countries. Educators need to make their students aware of their own rights and bring issues they see in the classroom up to higher school administrations. To all students: we need to collectively put pressure on our local governments and school boards to show the necessity of mental health excused absences both being granted and enforced.
Even then, however, you can still take action in other tangible forms to support the mental health of yourself and those around you. I urge all of you to be an open ear to those in struggle and be active members of your community by publicizing accessible mental health resources you may know and raising awareness about the mental health stigma. If you are a mental health advocate, consider making a support program open to all youth to find haven in.
By providing access to student mental health rights and resources, we can advance the mental health movement and provide the much-needed support that will benefit students from all walks of life.
