Suicide is the second leading cause of death in people aged ten to twenty-four. Rates of Suicide increased 60% between the years 2007 and 2018. Every one in five Americans suffer from a mental illness. Even the LGBTQ community is affected; they are three times more likely to be mentally ill compared to others. These rates are way too high and something needs to be done.

   School isn’t the most safe space around. Bullying is a normal action all across the nation and unfortunately even Dobie has bullying. There’s many ways someone can be targeted for bullying. It could be your gender identity, your sexuality, your appearance, just to name a few ways. When someone goes through constant harassment from fellow peers, it can take a toll on their mental health. Many students have gone through mental distress caused by school alone. Students choose to talk bad about someone behind their back, laugh at them or throw objects even. This can create an unsafe environment and make someone dread the moment they walk through the school’s doors.

   Even at home, teens have troubles with mental health. In some cases, parents ignore their child’s mental health or don’t know that they are having issues in the first place. According to the website The Conversation, 12-26% of parents claimed that they weren’t needed for help or were just not wanting to help. There’s times where parents have helped their children before something goes wrong but there’s times where that’s not the case. Unfortunately some teenagers site their parents as the cause of their mental distress. Every year, more than four million children go through abuse and there’s a new report every ten seconds in the United States. But there’s tons of children’s voices that still need to be heard around the nation. Mental distress is more common than you might think. The person right next to you could be going through something at home.

   The author’s gone through troubles at home also, he’s had to go through his voice silenced without a way to speak out. For years he’s had to go through the struggles of mental distress. At one point there wasn’t a day where he didn’t know if he could last through the week. Multiple attempts were made to gain help but every time would be dismissed with the same sentence. “You’re too young to know” is a sentence many can relate to and is a common excuse made to ignore a teen’s mental health. Fighting mental illnesses alone shouldn’t be happening to anyone, at any age and or date.

   There’s a huge need for more voices to be heard. Mental health problems are so common at this point, yet it’s a shame to speak about it. Schools, parents and personal experiences are all causes and more awareness is needed. More attention needs to be given to students with the signs of any mental distress. Harsher punishments should be taken when a student online or in person, is caught harming one’s mental being.