26 Nov 2017

When we asked you guys how you were coping with high school we got some pretty scary results. 70.6% of you used ‘stressed’ to describe how you felt about Year 12, followed by anxious (65.5%) and frustrated (44.6%).

Then we asked you about your mental health and whether you had seen a mental health professional in the last year. 27% of you said yes and 24% of you said no, but you need to.

The results were shocking but not a total surprise.

Those final years of high school can be some of the most stressful you’ve experienced in your schooling life so far. You’re dealing with more academic pressure than ever before. You’re faced with big life decisions like where you want to study for the next five years or what you plan on doing with your life. Teachers are expecting you to do hours of homework, your parents want to see you studying 24/7 and you’ve got two major works you need to get done–on top of everything you’re just trying to get enough sleep to make it through first period Maths without nodding off on your desk.

During those last few years, there will be times where you’ll be drowning under a mountain of assignments, homework, study sessions and exams. There will be late nights and tears and frantic typing to meet another deadline.You will be tired. Exhaustion and apathy will creep over you and make it hard to care about anything. You will get to a point where you are just trying to make it through each day, trudging to the finish line with your head down in the hopes that you will be able to stop soon.

In April, a report found that nearly one in four Aussie teens met the criteria for having a ‘probable serious mental illness’–a 20% increase from five years ago.

It seems like things are only getting worse with younger students experiencing the struggles once reserved for the seniors. In fact, children as young as ten years old are experiencing anxiety and depression.

On top of it all, schools just can’t cope with the rise in anxiety, depression and self harm. Support services aren’t at the level they need to be.

When you have a place that students spend hours and hours every day, there needs to be adequate to support to help them. There needs to be programs that intervene early and offer preventative help. We need to be proactive and have in school programs that work, not weak structures and poor funding that means schools are overstretched trying to help all their students.

We at Year13 encourage anyone struggling to speak out about your mental health and seek help if you need it: