Earlier this year, we spoke to longtime Andover High School health educator Holly Breen about the impact of the pandemic on students’ mental health and the ways The NAN Project helps. She shares her unique perspective in a Q&A here.
Q: What are the most prevalent and also intense ways you are seeing the stresses of the pandemic evidenced in the students? How does their mental health today compare with pre-pandemic?
Q: What are the most prevalent and also intense ways you are seeing the stresses of the pandemic evidenced in the students? How does their mental health today compare with pre-pandemic?A: I am seeing a lot of absences with students. I have a lot of students that miss several days during the school year. I also have seen students struggle with focus and concentration more so than ever before. Students have a very short attention span; they also struggle putting their devices away. I have gone back to pen and paper so that they are not messaging friends, surfing the internet, etc. during class. I have them put all devices away for most of the class
Q: How did you come to be an early adopter of The NAN Project’s work in your school?
A: I had a student who was working on a project for a senior capstone, and she connected with The NAN project as a resource for her project. She was redoing our website and finding resources for students and parents around mental health. We then brought TNP in to work with a group of students to help teach them QPR. This group was formed to decrease stigma and open the conversation around mental health. The NAN Project worked closely with this group (STAR- Students are Resilient), we did multiple trainings, and had conversations around how to decrease stigma and educate the community. STAR provided a lot of programming to help educate the school community.
Q: What impact have you seen after visits from TNP Peer Mentors, either anecdotal or via any data?
A: The NAN Project speakers have been very well received here at AHS. They have helped open the conversation around mental health issues and have helped our students learn empathy. They have provided a platform for our students to be comfortable asking for help or recognizing warning signs and helping friends to get the assistance they need. This has been a wonderful partnership.
Q: Any general statement about the importance of this work and TNP specifically?
A: Thanks to The NAN Project, students are recognizing warning signs and helping friends get the help they need. TNP’s staff comeback stories provide our students with hope for themselves if they are struggling and they help open up the conversation here at AHS so that we can decrease stigma and connect with those who need support.
We want to thank Holly for speaking with us and offering her insight. We are grateful for her amazing work as an educator at Andover High School!