PHOENIX — Mental health issues are top of mind for parents and teenagers in Arizona, and some school districts are teaching vital coping skills for anxiety, depression, and fears associated with being bullied at school.
The Buckeye Elementary School district is among the districts standing for what's right. It's home to a few schools implementing the Leader In Me program.
The curriculum incorporates lessons in responsibility, adaptability, and self-direction as early as kindergarten.
The practices come from Stephen Covey's best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Some schools in Peoria, Glendale, and Phoenix are seeing the benefits of The Grief Sensitive Schools Initiative.
This program offers teachers, counselors, and other staff members ways to connect with students who could be on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
ABC15's Kaley O'Kelley talked with a group of eighth-graders in the Litchfield Elementary School District.
Our crew was there for an interview about News Literacy Week when the topic of mental health came to light.
"I just want to know more about that so I can understand why people bully people. I just want the world to be nice. You know?" said 14-year-old Logan Haas.
"Is there anything that's kind of bugging you about the world?" O'Kelley asked. "Something that you want to know more about? Maybe some changes that you would like to see?"
Expressing empathy and compassion, Haas replied, "The psychology of people that are like bullying people, because I've experienced that a lot. So, I kind of want to know what's happening."
His classmate Leah Preston also shared her concerns.
"To piggyback off what Logan said, I also want to...explore the world of the way people think and...feel. Because I personally struggle with it a lot."
Alanna Sternad, another classmate, said, "I just want people to know, they are not alone."
All three of these students are helping to start a new journalism club at their school in the Litchfield Elementary School District.
Talking about opportunities to share hopeful mental health resources through story-telling, Preston also told O'Kelley, "I think it would be eye-opening for some people — it could open their entire perspective to everything."
Dr. Emily Bashah is a Scottsdale-based psychologist. She says, understanding the motive for bullying can help to create an environment of empathy, leading to more positive relationships.
"The best thing a parent can do, especially for an adolescent, is maintain that close relationship with them," Dr. Bashah said. She added that low self-esteem, social media influence, insecurity, and fear are on a growing list of reasons tied to why some kids torment others.
Because parents aren't at school to see what happens on a daily basis, it's not always easy to see when kids are being harassed. But Dr. Bashah says parents can learn more about what's happening at school by getting to know the people their kids call friends.
"Invite them to dinner, take them out to a game, do something fun with them, and I think that will help bridge some of those relationships so you can really observe and see who their friends are."
