Join us for mental health awareness month all May!
May is mental health awareness month, so we're making an extra effort to be involved in our community all month! Last week, three of our staff members were fortunate to attend Athens High School's Mental Health Fair. This event, organized by Athens City School staff and run by students, was an excellent opportunity to connect with young Athenians and provide education about mental health topics. Locker McDonald, MA, ALC, Halley McNeal, MSW, LICSW, and Will Johnson spoke with students and school staff about how outpatient therapy can be used to address mental health issues, the roles of client and therapist, and career options for prospective future therapists.
Athens High School has a student body of over 1,200 individuals, a massive amount of young people who each have specific needs and issues. It could be easy to feel lost in a group that large, but the care that Athens High staff have for their students came through in each of our interactions. We watched as hundreds of students came through the fair and, impressively, their teachers, counselors, and other school staff had personal interactions with nearly all of them. If that wasn't enough to demonstrate the dedication these people have to our city's youth, they organized a fair to bring about awareness of mental health issues their students may face just in time for summer break! We were honored to be invited to attend and share our expertise with Athens' high school students and offer them our support over the summer.