Springfield high school students celebrate more funding for mental health resources

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) -“This is an issue for us teens every single day,” said Putnam student Cenya Sylvia.

Springfield teens once again took to the steps of city hall Wednesday afternoon, this time, not to ask for more money or answers, but to celebrate progress in their fight for additional resources in their schools.

“While we didn’t get everything we asked for, we are excited to say we have made a difference for teens in the Springfield Public Schools,” said Dejah Rose Haith, a Putnam Academy graduate.

In March, a group of Springfield students began their campaign for an additional 4 million dollars towards mental health resources in their high schools.

The Springfield School Committee had already allocated 30 million towards this issue earlier this spring.

However, after a recent meeting, the Springfield School Committee decided to invest an additional 3.9 million dollars towards mental health resources across the district.

“We are thrilled to have made some progress. With four new adjustment councilors, the addition of cartwheel, and an additional $3.9 million dollars in total have been allocated to mental health,” said Naomi Edwards.

For many students, like Cenaya Sylvia, the fight is personal.

“I was never the type to share my feelings or share my emotions. I never talked about how my health condition affected me. Nobody knew about it so the days I would have off days, I would just get blamed for it. I never felt like I could talk about it. That’s why I go so strongly for this. because I don’t want kids in the future, coming up into our grades, to feel like that,” said Sylvia.

A survey of 250 students conducted by the Pioneer Valley Project pointed to how widespread this is.

According to that survey, about half of teens in the district deal with anxiety and depression

While Sylvia and other students say they haven’t seen a change just yet, they are hopeful.

“Now that I’ve graduated, I look back and see these kids, they really need a support system to back them up. High school is not impossible but it’s not easy,” said Haith.

Slyvia and others are thrilled about this development, calling it a step in the right direction, they now want to make sure information about additional counselors and other resources will be easily available to other students.

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