12 Mental Health Lessons We Should Be Taught in School
This summer, two states â New York and Virginia â officially enacted laws making it mandatory for mental health to be taught in schools.
In New York, this means the health class curriculum for elementary, middle and high school students will be updated to include mental health information. In Virginia, mental health education will be incorporated into physical education and health classes for ninth and 10th graders only, CNN reported.
While this is a step in the right direction, it left us wondering: What should we be teaching students about mental health in schools? What kind of information is important, and what do people whoâve been there wish they knew when they were growing up?
To create our own âMightyâ guidelines for teaching mental health in schools, we asked our mental health community to share one âmental health lessonâ they wish they were taught when they were struggling with their mental health as a student.
One last thing: While it would be amazing if all these lessons were taught in our schools, lessons need to be met with resources. Itâs not good enough to tell children they should seek help if the kind of help they need isnât available to them. These states have taken great first steps. Letâs hope theyâre willing to put their money where their new school curriculum is when it comes to making sure their mental health system is effective and accessible.
Here are the lessons our mental health community wish they were taught. School districts everywhere, take note:
1. Taking care of your mental health is just as important as taking care of other aspects of your health.Â
âMental illness is just as prevalent and serious as physical illness. Mental health needs to be discussed just like âphysical.â I believe these things should be taught at certain levels from young childhood just as is physical health and care.â â Annie M.
âItâs important! Just as important as your physical health! I donât know if itâs just me, but I do not remember discussing mental health at all in school and it should be just as big a focus as our physical health. Maybe then there wouldnât be a stigma around it not being ânormalâ to have a mental illness if people were aware of the kinds of mental illnesses as well as the statistics of those who deal with them. I know speaking for myself again, I was very ashamed to even admit I dealt with suicidal thoughts. I thought it made me âabnormal.â Only to be told by my doctor that more people deal with depression than I realize and it is not uncommon or abnormal.â â Emma G.
2. Itâs OK to talk about feelings and emotions â even scary ones.
âI wish I learned that it was OK to openly talk about my emotions with others and not hide it in order to show that I am OK when I am not.â â Tatauq M.
âI wish I would have learned in school that if you have a mental health issue, donât stay silent about it. Seek help. It is OK. People know the seriousness of mental illness and they want to help you. You must reach out.â â Shelby M.
âItâs OK to talk about your feelings and emotions, you can feel safe discussing it without feeling like youâll be taken to a hospital.â â Megan L.
3. Itâs OK to not feel happy all the time.
âI wish they had told us it was a common day-to-day struggle for people. It was something that ânormal,â everyday people struggle with. Itâs not something to be ashamed of.â â Sandy K.
âSometimes⌠itâs OK to not be OK. Life is rough and itâs alright to be stressed and tired and angry at the world. To anyone who is reading this, you are not alone. I know for myself I need to be told that sometimes too, so I want to get that out there. You are not alone, you are loved and you are important.â â Lacie M.
4. There are skills you can use when youâre struggling with your mental health.
âI wish we actually learned skills. Not just about depression, bipolar, whatever. But actually some skills. I really wish school had a DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) class. I need to learn how to handle emotions and communicate effectively. I also think seeing a school counselor should be mandatory. Gym is mandatory to be in physical shape, but no one cares if your mental health is terrible.â â Danielle H.
âCoping skills would have been amazing. Knowing that mental illness doesnât discriminate. What to do and where to get help. How to deal with a new diagnosis. Heroes who survived. All of it wouldâve helped. How to practice self-care and self-love. Even basic knowledge of depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, etc. would have helped a lot. Having my first episode completely flipped my world upside down. It scared me, and I lost friends over it.â â Becky R.
5. There are resources you can turn to when youâre struggling with your mental health.
âI wish they gave us resources. The first time in 2007, when I told my doctor I thought I had depression⌠she just shrugged her shoulders and didnât offer any other suggestions like counseling or community programs.â â Allison M.
6. Therapy is cool.
âItâs OK to go to therapy, and itâs nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed of. Also, that itâs a normal thing! Until college, I never told anyone that I regularly see a psychologist. Surprisingly, a lot of my friends see psychologists/psychiatrists too!â â Alex C.
7. Thereâs nothing wrong with taking medication.
âItâs OK to take medication for mental illness. A lot of school children think that somehow psychiatric meds fundamentally change your personality when they donât â [they are] just like other medications.â â Victoria L.
8. Your feelings deserve to be taken seriously â even when youâre a teenager.
âNot every feeling is ânormal teenage angst,â and there could be something more serious going on with you. I wish it was taught in school to reach out because help is available and you donât have to suffer alone.â â Chelsea J.
 9. Getting diagnosed with a mental illness doesnât make you a bad or dangerous person.
âThat people with mental illness are not automatically dangerous and unstable. And that not all dangerous people have mental illness.â â Megan S.
âHaving a mental illness doesnât mean you are âcrazyâ and itâs OK to seek help. Mental illness is no more shameful than any other illness.â â Desiree N.
âJust because someone has a mental illness doesnât mean they are different from you. And just because someone looks ânormalâ does not mean that they donât have a mental illness.â â Katelyn S.
âThis is simple, but I wish I would have learned that having a mental health issue doesnât make you any less of a person and it definitely doesnât make you a âbadâ person. Whatever mental issue you may suffer from, that doesnât make you a bad person. Needing medication to help you function doesnât make you any less of a person.â â Victoria H.
10. There are signs that can help you identify when youâre struggling.
âHow to notice the signs in yourself and others, and most importantly how important it is to reach out and get the proper help for either yourself or a friend!â â Joanna M.
11. Itâs OK to think differently.
âThere is no ânormal.â Itâs OK to be different.â â Ellie F.
âEveryone with mental illness is different. I feel like they teach you that everyone is the same. I also wish they wouldâve taught us that people with mental illnesses are just like everyone else. We can do the same things. Weâre all human.â â Alyssa B.
12. Mental health is more important than your grades.
âThat mental health is more important than good grades or school involvement.
Mental illness is not something to be ashamed of, because so many people live with it, and they live good lives. They never gave us resources or information, or even had a conversation with us about mental health. It would have made a huge difference for so many people had we learned about it. â â Justine A.
What do you wish you had been taught in school about mental health?
Getty image via Kerkez