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Youth Mental Health

This series focuses on students’ mental health, the sources of their distress, and how schools and communities can help.

Amid youth mental health crisis, districts invest in new programs

Youth Mental Health Allison Poosawtsee

Youth are in crisis when it comes to mental health. What are Kent County schools doing to address the concerns that students bring into the classroom?

What do you like best about school?

All Districts Erin Albanese

In this final installment of our student roundtable, the high school panelists share what they enjoy about school, and what makes them feel connected...

How safe do you feel in your school?

All Districts Charles Honey

Our student panelists talk about the toll school shootings take on their sense of safety, and what needs to be done to curb the plague of gun violence in schools...

How much of a problem is social media, and how do we fix it?

All Districts Charles Honey

Our student panelists say TikTok, Instagram and other social media are breeding insecurity and rewiring their brains in unhealthy ways...

What would you like adults to know about what your life is like?

All Districts Charles Honey

Our student panelists unload about the pressures of high school life, getting those good grades and living up to their families’ expectations...

How big an issue is mental health at your school?

All Districts Erin Albanese

High school panelists share what they think are the strengths of and challenges to finding support...

What is it like to be a high school student today?

All Districts Erin Albanese

What’s life like for a high school student in 2023? In a six-part series, 10 students from all corners of Kent County talk about their pressures, stressors and happy places...

Film class ‘teaching us how to be whole’

Rockford Allison Poosawtsee

Rockford High film students put mental health in the spotlight in most every project they create...

District buildings promote mental health awareness

Kenowa Hills Alexis Stark

Paint Kenowa Green has become a semester-long effort...

An MSU grad’s painful reflection: violence has turned my former green-and-white home red

Personal Commentary Alexis Stark

A School News Network reporter and MSU graduate reflects on the horrific shooting at her alma mater...

Biggest individual donation ever will support mental health

East Grand Rapids Beth Heinen Bell

A record-setting gift is poised to make a significant difference in the mental health and well-being of East Grand Rapids students...

‘Your emotions matter’

Wyoming Erin Albanese

Students are learning that all emotions matter and that recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing and regulating them helps them and others...

Connecting through circles

Kentwood Erin Albanese

Kentwood’s approach to restorative practices is about equity, inclusion...

‘We can do this together’

Thornapple Kellogg Allison Poosawtsee

A new student-initiated mental health club at Thornapple-Kellogg High School is encouraging peers to be proactive about seeking help...

The money’s there for students’ mental-health struggles. The people aren’t

Youth Mental Health Charles Honey

Pandemic-fueled student anxiety and depression are overloading school mental-health services...

Named West Michigan Counselor of the Year by the West Michigan Counseling Association, Bari Kane strives to build relationships with her students, be a good listener and resource for mental health support...

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