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Why students should have mental health days | Hailey Hardcastle



Why students should have mental health days | Hailey Hardcastle

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School can be rife with stress, anxiety, panic attacks and even burnout — but there’s often no formal policy for students who need to prioritize their well-being. Hailey Hardcastle explains why schools should offer mental health days and allow students time to practice emotional hygiene without stigma. Follow along to learn how she and a team of fellow teens transformed their advocacy into law.

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View 47 Comments

47 Comments

  2. @manuelalejandro2817 on

    The Myth of Mental Illness, by Dr. Thomas S. Szasz and all your tiny excuses will crumble. Work on your moral conduct and you will get rid of your illness. But no, we choose the easy, pity route. Keep justifying each other and you will continue to collect bodies.

  10. @jasminehernandez5368 on

    really hope and wish that because could understand that it’s hard, especially to those who have other things that at the time are more serious than school work, they just can’t keep up with work and all. Personally as a honor roll student, I told myself I want to quit, I want to stop this hard work after all this studying and days I would work myself for and just quit it all because I just couldn’t hold up much longer. It felt so relieving when we would have short breaks because it gave me enough time to really enjoy my time without any work being assigned for awhile, so I do think at least 3 days off of school anytime should be good for every kid. I understand that back then it wasn’t like that and you had no other choice, but same time, no one really prioritized mental health days. Maybe school does prepare us in the future to not miss a day and so on, but 3 days won’t hurt. We’re doing our best to at least do the most that we can at school for who we want to be as we get older. It’ll help us a lot more in academics as well to just take a break.

  11. @trybestdontquit6607 on

    <Just for an assignment>

    Comment:
    The first part of this speech is not really persuasive but rather more on the informative side. Also, She has a great anecdote on the topic of mental health. One thing is assured though, It is not quite persuasive meaning I was not really persuaded to commit something.

  14. @novadwipramesti9561 on

    I really enjoyed the talk and I agree with her. Honestly, I have never talked about mental health with my parents, because when I'm tired from school activities and I try to talk to my parents, they will say that I shouldn't complain and be lazy. So I'll be quiet when I'm tired. I wish we studied mental health since we were young. Mental health is very important for all people, not just students or busy people. I loved her words, "It's okay to not be okay, and it's okay to take a break."

  15. @Rfarmer820 on

    My mom would let me take mental health days. Even if I was in school and suddenly felt drained, I would text her and she would say (not kidding) "fake a migraine, and ill come to get you". She works at home so it was fun to just hang out with her and breathe for a bit.

  25. @mikebasil4832 on

    Thank you, Hailey. This is very good news. I could have used many Mental Health Days in my school years. I’m glad that children in this generation can have chances to be much more fortunate.

  26. @jesrielbarangian on

    I like how she talks; she's calm, and her voice is loud and clear. Her gestures are really good because she faces every angle of the audience. She also made great eye contact with the audience. Her facial expression also has a great impact on delivering the message. I can relate to her message because I also experience mental breakdowns where I can't finish my activities on time. I like how she says it's okay not to be okay because, in this world, everything is complicated. And the way she reminds us that we should look out for each other is really caring. And let's always remember that mental health challenges are not going away, so we should manage them by looking after one another.❤❤❤

  28. @issygeorge07 on

    the worst thing about my mental health is that my parents don't believe me when i try to tell them how burnout and drained i am from school. i wake up every weekday stressing about whether or not I'm going to have enough time to get ready or not. and even if i feel like crap, i still go. school is so draining for teenagers to the point where it's not even funny anymore. i went from "i enjoy school, i want to go" to "i hate school, it's so boring" to now "i hate school, i'm so tired. BUT I HAVE TO GO." i'm starting to put school and education over my own health and i have nobody to help me control it.

    i remember one morning i woke up and i was so mentally drained. i looked tired, i felt tired and i couldn't stop crying. i obviously wasn't okay. but my parents sent me to school anyways, because it "wouldn't be fair on my younger siblings if they went to school and i stayed home". wow. and it took my little sister to text my dad to come and pick me up because she could tell i wasn't okay.

    please, please, please look after yourself. school and mental health is so scary when it isn't controlled. i love all of you <3

  31. @tashtash4694 on

    Please bring this to West Virginia! There are so many old timer ways and mental illnesses are shunned. So kids just keep their mouths shut. Mental health needs addressed. What better way to do it than implementing this in all schools? Stop a crisis before it starts!!

  39. @lyndebeaver on

    1.What is the attention getter of the speech? Was it effective? Why or why not?
    A story from when she was a kid in school. I was very effective it helped me picture why mental health was so important to her.

    2. What was the full thesis statement of the speech? Did the speaker do a good job making this clear within the first minute of the speech?
    At the age of six she struggled with mental health problems so her mom gave her 3 days during the school year she could use these days to skip school.

    3.What were the main points of the speech in order? Were these easy to pick out? Why or why not?
    What's going on, how did we get here and what can we do? They were very easy to pick out because she stated them out right during her speech.

    4.What kind of transitions did the speaker use? Were they effective?
    The speaker would use a real life example as a transition. She would also move her body when she was switching topics. This was effective to me because i knew a new point was coming.

    5. Describe some information that your speaker introduced from an outside source. Did the speaker provide enough details so you knew you could trust their source materials?
    she would connect anatomy and basics care of the body inti the speech. Yes i had enough details to tell I could trust the source.

    6. How did the speaker provide closure in his/her speech? Was the ending effective? Why or why not?
    She stated The thing I hope you take away from today is…..

    7.What were the most persuasive parts of this speech? Give 2 examples.
    She formed a bill. She also stressed how important it was by connecting it back to CPR.

    8. What, if any, new information did you discover by listening to this speech? List at least three things that were mentioned that you found memorable.
    She created a whole bill on meatal health in her state.

    9.Did the speaker use presentation aids? If so, were they effective? How did they help or hinder their presentation?
    She used one slide. It was not a distraction at all.

    10.Describe your interpretation of the overall delivery of the speech. What were the speaker's strong and weak points and why? (Don't focus on the technical aspects of this video such as video-audio being out of sync.)
    This presentation seams very professionally. It heald my attention the whole time. I would defiantly watch it again!

    11.What do you believe should be the overall grade for that speech (number/letter grade)? Please explain your answer. If you deducted points, explain why you deducted those points.
    100- very professional, had great confidence, knew what she was talking baout.

    post speech URLs of the speeches you found and chose to do this on.

  40. @jeffgoddard4100 on

    Mental health days are not a new concept, we had them back in the late seventies. In fact our school gave each student two of them every week for the entire school year. What we didn't have was the fancy catch phrase. We just called them Saturday and Sunday.

  42. @-gohzy6134 on

    "Think of life like a race. A long distance race. If you sprint in the very beginning, you're going to get burnt out. You may even hurt yourself from pushing too hard. But if you pace yourself, if you take it slow sometimes intentionally and you push yourself other times. You are sure to be way more successful. "

  47. @sakshambhadoria9998 on

    Cut throat competition, societal expectations, fluidity of age and advent of social media has wreaked havoc on every segment of the social pyramid mainly the young ones who have grown up with it. Mental health is on a downward spiral all over the globe with the young ones being the most and the worst victims.

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