(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Mental health professionals say going back to school can often be a stressful and anxiety-inducing experience for young people, and one expert has shared a few ways to offer valuable support.
Ben Frank is with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). He told WBBM Newsradio that, since 2021, more young people have been experiencing what he described as mental health symptoms. In Chicago, he said it's particularly an issue among seventh and eighth graders,
"There's a lot of concern about, OK, what happens when I leave my elementary and middle school experience,” he said. “Do I get into the right high school or the right circumstance, or the right social group or the right sports team, or do I excel enough?"
Frank said feelings of “nervousness and overwhelming fear” can manifest in physical ways.
“That might be like tummy aches … for young people, that’s how they express that, or headaches” Frank said. “Depression is, like, profound sadness.”
For parents of young children, he said it's important to trust your “parental instinct.”
“How do I know my child to usually be?” Frank said. “If that feels different, how can I be supportive to them and say, ‘Hey, I don't know what's going on, but I care. And if you feel okay to tell me, let's have that conversation.’”
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To help students recognize and navigate the stress of returning to class, NAMI offers a school presentation designed for middle and high school students.
“They get really good information about what mental health is,” Frank said. “It helps to make sure that the information they have isn't coming from, you know, distorted views that might exist in popular media or social media, but it's coming from advocates who understand it really well, and honestly, students are very ready for that conversation.”
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