On Nov. 17, Coppell ISD counselors, in association with nonprofit organizations such as the Grant Halliburton Foundation, held an online Parent University to address issues regarding mental health and suicide. 

The coordinators hope the event helps students deal with any mental problems that may arise and help parents discuss these various sensitive issues with their children. 

“If someone has a mental health issue and you just let it compound and get more serious, then in adulthood [they] will have more serious problems,” event coordinator Anne Lewhew said. “That’s our goal, to intervene early on and provide support or whatever a student might need so that down the road, it doesn’t become a more serious issue. Parents who are not counselors may feel uncomfortable having that conversation and not knowing how to start it.” 

Apart from suicide, the university discussed stress and its effect on the mind and links to depression diagnoses. Students often feel stress due to their school work and expectations, so the university also taught time management and healthy living methods. 

“If we know how to appropriately deal with our stress, mabe then we can prevent it from becoming depression, and if we prevent depression, we might be more able to prevent suicide,” Lewhew said.

Moreover, the university promoted the CISD emotional counseling and the various mental health and suicide awareness methods. The main idea being one pressed by the Okay To Say campaign which asserts that it is OK for a student to ask for help if they feel they are experiencing mental health issues. The emotional counseling board really stressed how deeply they care for the students and that students can always go to them for emotional help. 

Follow Nathan (@WalterBotell) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.