Mental Health Matters

Mental health plays a big role in most people’s lives, sometimes negatively and sometimes in a positive way. One good way is through the Mental Health Matters Club. This club is dedicated to helping people in their struggles to maintain good mental health. During an interview with Faith, the leader of Mental Health Matters, she said that “Being in the group helps speak about your own struggles, it’s hard at first.”
This club at Fargo North started in March of 2021 with no specific goal at first. Faith Schatzke, the president of the club, had said that they, “Just met and they knew they needed to do something to promote more awareness towards mental health.” They felt a need especially when considering multiple recent suicides and problems that Faith saw in herself and those around her. The club includes the president Faith Schatzke, along with Lainy Latunski (your homecoming queen and student council president), Kasen Sanders, Bergen Lindahl, Megan Janssen, Brooke Swanson, and Cece Marcuson. Though some of these people have now graduated, their support for this group still goes on.
The Mental Health Matters Club now has goals set for their club. These goals are to bring more awareness to mental health, and to change the culture of hiding what you’re feeling. They would also hope to achieve that, because of this group, they are, “Letting someone know that they are there,” and to let the people who join feel comfortable there. They still keep the main goal of bringing more awareness, except now, they have more goals for their group.
There are many changes still to be made by the school and our students. First of all, Faith said she would like something to change by, “Having one day a week, to have an open time, like a late start they used to have, give them a 35 minute break one day.” This just lets students have a break from a busy or stressful week, or just some time to finally slow down and breathe. She also believes that we should get more than just one unit in health, that one week isn’t enough, so we can learn more information about mental health. They also hope to have more in-school meetings that more people can attend and planning events during testing and school functions when you have to go to both, planning events around everything.
As for the group itself, and who they hope to reach, they have many plans. Since last year their goal was reaching the 9th-12th graders in the school and maybe the middle schoolers. They still haven’t reached the middle schoolers but they’re working on it and hope to reach them soon. They would like to stretch even farther as well, such as statewide Mental Health Matters groups, which they haven’t looked into much since they hope to get the middle schoolers first. They would just like to expand as far as possible, maybe Fargo South and Davies since they know some people there who would like a group like ours. One of the reasons they would like to reach the middle schoolers is so that, “by the time they get to the high school they’re more comfortable and not too overwhelmed.”
If you’re wondering more about the group itself, as said before, it is now led by Faith Schatzke and Lainy Latunski, and when they graduate, two Juniors in the group will move up into being the leaders, with Freshmen and Sophomores coming in behind them. They don’t know yet who will be the next president but that is somewhat of what it will be like. As for meetings, they don’t have any scheduled right now, because of their recent event that was called Break the Silence. It was a big community gathering that happened the week of September 12th.
As mentioned before, the group hopes to start hosting events in the school or during school hours. They go to awareness walks like the recent one a couple weeks ago and they have their own meetings and events as well. The group also has an Instagram page called mentalhealthmattersfnh, where you can find links in the link tree linked in the bio. Those links will lead you to help lines, numbers to call if needed, treatment places such as Prairie St. John. They also have a Break the Silence page, counseling centers, signs to look for and many more, so don’t be afraid to check it out. If you didn’t go to the event they held or didn’t fill out a request form, you still have a chance to join the club, as they are very open to new members any time.
Finally a little about Faith and mental health itself. Something Faith wants to do after she graduates is to go into counseling. Faith has also been struggling with her mental health since middle school, and like many people has times when it’s really bad and times when it’s just fine. One thing that stuck with her was, “to ask for help when it is cloudy, not stormy.” She was told this by her counselor and a few other people and it is something you can consider as well, to maybe help you to get help before it’s too bad, get help when it is ok, before it’s too much. One last thing is she said, “It’s hard to figure out on your own, even if you don’t have the flexibility to meet with a counselor sometimes, still try to meet with one.”
Mental health itself can take a physical toll on your health at the same time as it’s taking one on your mental health. One way she noticed was, “Struggling with your mental health can make your sleeping and eating schedule worse.” So just as there is a toll on your mental health, it can definitely take a toll on your physical health. Remember, “reaching out, knowing what to do, follow your own advice”, are things that helped her, so don’t be afraid to reach out when you need help.
So please check this group out, follow their Instagram and maybe even take a look at the links in their bio. Finally, Faith says, “Being in the group helps speak about your own struggles, even though it can be hard at first,” and if it can help her, it might be able to help you too.