Mental health is such a stigmatized topic that needs to be addressed in high schools. My Name is Levi Mullan and I am currently in grade 12 in Central Secondary School in London Ontario. Students in our school's leadership program are required to organize and facilitate different projects. I have chosen to focus my project on  Mental Health. Struggling from depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder and OCD I have come to realize how important resources can be to those struggling from mental illnesses. The goal of my project the CSS Mental health initiative is to provide students with resources to deal with mental illness and let them know they are not the only ones struggling. 20% of Canadians will suffer from some form of mental health disorder at some point in their lives and 4000 people end their lives every year in Canada (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2011). 

So far the Mental Health initiative has completed a few activities to bring awareness to our school. In December of 2010 we completed a school wide survey to determine how important students felt about the issue of Mental Health and teenagers. The results were quite astounding. Most students knew of someone who suffering from a mental disorder or was dealing with one themselves.  A vast majority of the students wanted to learn more about mental health and resources available to them. 

In February a Mental Health bulletin board was designed in the school to provide facts and information on mental health. The board features an e-mail interview with Paige Lawson, who was named as Canada's top 20 under 20 for the year 2010 and is heavily involved with her own mental health program. It features pictures of celebrities suffering from mental health disorders and information about body image.

In March the leadership class all designed T-shirts that featured facts about mental health on them. We all wore the t-shirts on the same day in order too rase discussion about mental health and to promote our initiative. T-shirts featured facts such as "1/5 children who require mental health assistance receive them" etc. 

A Mental health Assembly is set to be held in April and we anticipate other activities such as stress relieving yoga. Mental health is so important to teens and schools should be required to bring awareness to break the stigma. I encourage you do do activities in your own school and wish me luck with the rest of the year!

Levi Mullan

(Below, Ashley and Levi of the Central Secondary School Leadership Program wearing mental health awareness t-shirts)