The Plan

The Link Crew at Century High School, a group that helps with freshman orientation and events of that nature, will work with the counselors and teachers to educate them on how to detect when someone is struggling from a mental illness and what to do about it. The Link Crew will then give presentations to each English class about the same thing so the teachers and students are equally educated. They will also have “Link Hours” during lunch hours available to students who need to destress and just talk about something other than school

This will require the Link Crew to go through training before the beginning of each school year on what mental illnesses are and how to detect when someone is struggling from one.

In the first two weeks of school these same Link Crew members (seniors are the best option because they hold the most “authority” of all the students and are respected) will present information to English classes on the resources Century now has to offer (Counselor hours, “Link Hours”, etc) and why it is important to get help.

The Link Crew will work with the counselors to set up hours for students who need to talk about something other than college, tests, or classes (mental illnesses, family problems, etc) that are relevant to the counselor’s job description. This will work similarly to office hours that professors hold at a college. A few people (roughly 5) from the Link Crew will then educate the teachers and other faculty during their work week prior to school starting on the same topic and make it relevant to the teachers. This will include things such as warning signs the teachers would likely see themselves (grades suddenly dropping, erratic attendance, lashing out, etc). It is important to have peer mentors available so that students feel more comfortable talking about it because they are their peers.