On Friday, Coppell High School Anatomy students presented booth ideas to their fellow classmates for the Defensive Line Mental Health Fair that will take place in May.
Students pitched ideas for booths targetting topics such as anxiety, stress and depression. The anatomy class planned activities and games for the fair that aim to bring awareness and support to those who struggle with mental health in the community.
Senior Jada Parker’s group targets the importance of nature and how getting outside more can help relieve stress. The group’s idea uses gardening and creativity as a way to connect people with each other and the environment by giving attendees plants.
“The focus of our project is lowering stress levels and helping people socialize, especially people with anxiety,” Parker said. “They could plant their own seeds, color whatever they want on the pots we’re planning to give them so they can have a plant of their own. It’s really engaging.”
Another group proposes a craft table, designed to help people with anxiety feel more calm. The crafts include making stress balls, bracelets and writing down negative feelings on paper and shredding it. Junior Arisha Hasan thinks these activities help people branch out and build connections with others.
“Certain activities help to calm you down. In high school, you’re already stressed out about so many things and everyone has their own family problems and issues at home or with themselves. There are people who don’t feel confident about themselves and I do think that this [fair] will help.” Hasan said.
For a long time, the conversation around mental health has been treated as a stigma. Anatomy teacher Jodie Dienhammer hopes this event opens the door to more inclusive conversations around mental health.
“For a long time mental health was a negative ‘don’t talk about it’ kind of thing and people who suffer from depression or anxiety aren’t willing to come out and talk about it because they feel like there’s a stigma attached,” Dienhammer said. “The more we talk about it, the more normalized it makes it.”
The Anatomy classes has also partnered with The Defensive Line, a nonprofit organization dedicated to youth suicide prevention. Their goal is to educate and empower young people to show them that there are resources for them when they are in times of need.
“I don’t think you can fix mental health overnight. It takes such a long time to grow, but I think this will be a step closer to helping other people’s mental health,” Hasan said.
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