Students feel and cope with stress in different ways when they are at school but many are unsure of where or who they can go to for support outside of their friends.
Liron Maks thinks that the school day can be stressful. “My mental health usually depends on the classes, what time I start, etcetera. Some classes are more draining than others but I usually am somewhat exhausted and drained,” she said.
Freshman Marly Regalado also sees school itself as a source of stress.
“My mental health is okay but school makes me feel stressed out and I feel like I don’t have time to be with my friends,” Regalado said. She added that when she’s feeling stressed in school, she talks to her friends, which is a strategy that several other students said they used.
Teachers and staff understand that some students may be having a hard time and struggling with their mental health, but they often don’t know how to assess which students are in need of help.
“I think each student is unique,” Vasiliki Kazalas, a ninth-grade humanities teacher said. “There might be a group of students in the same class, same lesson and in some cases I see students sitting up and alert and participating and there may be students in class that have their heads down and not participating and I often think and wonder why that might be,” she said.
Kazalas expressed concern that it could also be the reverse and that “sometimes someone might seem perfectly happy but there might be some serious issues in their lives” that teachers are unaware of, which make it difficult to know what support a student might need.
New York City (NYC) public schools are supposed to have mental health resources available for students. According to the NYC Department of Education, ”when students access school-based mental health programs…grades, attendance, student self-esteem, overall child health and parent and teacher knowledge of mental health issues” all improve.
However, some students don’t know who to go to or where they can go for mental health support in school.
“I have no idea who’s in the mental health services in the school,” sophomore Miriam Boruch said.
Sophomore Lily Callahan agreed, “I’m not so sure who works in the mental health field in the school,” she said.
Jill Kaufman, who is the only social worker in the school and is in Room 216B, explained how students reach out to her for support.
“They [students] usually reach out to me through chat or email or they knock on my door saying they want to talk to someone,” said Kaufman, who has extensive training and experience in counseling students. “If I am busy… there are four guidance counselors.”
The four guidance counselors that students can talk to are John Skulikidis for sixth and seventh-grade students, Eberto Pinero for eighth-grade students and freshmen, Joanna Medrano for sophomores and juniors, all of whom share an office in Room 216A, and Lindsey Sequiera for seniors, in Room 216B.
However, if students are more comfortable talking to a social worker, they can make an appointment with Kaufman.
“I have kids chatting and emailing me asking when can we meet and we would both look at our schedules,” said Kaufman. “If for some reason it doesn’t work out we can always reschedule, but I’m pretty good at keeping up with appointments.”
