Interviews

Interviews (informal)- given that the subject is already a touchy topic, I choose to do these interviews as more of a conversation with my club, TABDD (teens against bullying, drinking, and drugs). To keep my club a safe environment to share their feelings, I won't disclose names and overviews of the common themes I heard while leading and the notes I took throughout.

Talking with Local Middle School Counselor

While communicating with my local middle school's counselor, we broke down the cause of teen mental health issues into a few categories.

These groups were:

• Bullying-

Most bullying is done online; it gives the kids access to say whatever they want and to whoever they want without having to be face to face. We found that most of the bullying pertained to looks, race, wealth, and many other things. Another common way of bullying was leaving people out; students were personally excluded from groups and activities because they didn't fit the social status or weren't like everyone else.

• Stress and Anxiety-

Stress and anxiety are common for anyone of any age. Unfortunately, Middle school students are struggling with this more than before because of the transition from grade school to middle school and the different workload. Though homework is highly beneficial to a student's success, we found that the amount given from all the different classes is taking a toll on the students' well-being and how they feel toward school.

• Substance Abuse-

Mrs. Brosch and I had a super in-depth conversation involving vaping in middle school. She mentions that she has had multiple people get suspended from school this year because of possession of vapes in school. Believe it or not, alcohol and drugs, vaping especially, are super commonly abused substances in middle school. However, many people try these substances out of pure curiosity or fit in. Most of those students do it for attention from parents or teachers or to ease stress.

• Body Image-

Body Image has always been an issue every generation has had to deal with. Nowadays, we are surrounded by the perfect body image all over the internet and social media, and it can be super hard to scroll past. With middle schoolers all having phones, social media is a built-in part of their life. They grow up looking up to models with perfect skin, pearly white teeth, and athletes with flat stomachs and muscular legs. Students can feel fat or worthless if they don't fit in with the standard.

• Family-

The family has a significant impact on a person's life and wellbeing. You are surrounded by these people every day, so it's vital to your mental health than those people bring good vibes and positive motivation to help you keep going every day. In some circumstances, this isn't received at home. The atmosphere has a significant impact on how you feel and do at school. But having good meals and parents to provide you with love and protection can make a massive difference in how a student may perform at school or act at home.

Talking With TABDD (teens against bullying, drinking, and drugs)

Over the past few months, I have been restarting a club based on prevention, kindness, and leadership. With this, I have connected with many middle school students and talked to the group about what they feel are issues in their school.

The Main three issues they came up with were:

• Friend Groups (Cliques)-

When I asked the group what effect their mental health the most, friend groups were at the top of the list. They mentioned that getting left out was one of the main reasons they chose this. I asked the group how this made them feel, and these were some of the words they used, hurtful, sad, unwanted, and lonely. The two words that stood out to me were unwanted and lonely; no kid or student should feel that way, especially when the whole world is changing with growing up and puberty.

• The school (stress and anxiety)-

When I asked the group why they chose the school, they answered with homework, test, quizzes, and projects. The students elaborated by telling me how they feel overwhelmed, worried about consequences, and tired. I feel like this can apply to everyone who is still in school; stress and anxiety are something that you will experience your whole life.

• Cyberbullying (Social Media)-

Lastly, the group collectively decided that cyberbullying was one of the most prominent issues in middle school. The students explained that people are bullying more online than in person because it's easier to say something mean through a text than someone's face. The students explained how people would use snap chat to say hurtful things to each other because the snap disappears after a few seconds and notifies the sender if their snap was screenshotted, making it harder for the victim to get evidence for help.