Caitlyn Durbin

515 Lincoln Street

Agra, OK 74824

March 4, 2024

State Superintendent Ryan Walters

Oliver Hodge Building
2500 North Lincoln Boulevard
Oklahoma City, Ok

State Superintendent Ryan Walters,

I hope this letter finds you well. I’m writing to you, hoping that this letter will help bring mental
illnesses in younger demographics to your awareness. If a child is having symptoms of a mental
illness and if they are diagnosed early on in their life, then they could get the help that they need
earlier on as well and that it will help to lessen the impacts that their mental illness could cause.

Up until the starting years of high school, I’d never had to deal with any sort of mental illness.
Depression and anxiety was never something that I’d been even remotely concerned about. It
had never crossed my mind that there would be instances or events that would lead to me having
or showing symptoms of both of these mental illnesses. Going through high school, I never
really opened up to anyone about it; I didn’t want anyone to think of me as an annoyance. It
wasn’t until my aunt, who also has depression and a bit of anxiety, pointed out to me that I could
possibly have them as well. At first, I was skeptical of my aunt’s words. It was only when I gave
it some deep thought, that everything started to make sense. I talked with my aunt about it more
and more, and she was actually able to help me overcome most of the challenges that those
mental illnesses gave me. Not everyone who has mental illnesses like anxiety and depression
has someone to talk to, let alone someone to help them figure out how to handle it.

The age in which people discover that they have a mental illness varies. More often than not,
however, it’s the adults that realize it later on in their lives, whether it be from getting help from
someone or through their own discovery. An article titled, “Undiagnosed Mental Illness: What
You Should Know”, from Turnbridge.com, states that, “In the United States, over half (54
percent) of adults do not receive treatment for their mental illness. For those who do in fact
receive treatment, the delay between symptom onset and first treatment is long, with an
estimated 11 year gap (Turnbridge).” This suggests that these adults, while younger, didn't get
the proper help that they needed, nor were they diagnosed as well. People who have mental
illnesses need a safe space; they need a way to learn how to better deal with the challenges that
mental illnesses challenge them. Not only can it be difficult, but it can also prove to be terrifying
to go through daily life with a mental illness, especially for students of a school district. Even in
elementary, low mental health can be enough to cause problems for oneself as well as the people
around them (Youth.gov). Throughout their lives, these kids’ minds go through so much, more
so as they continue to grow into adults.

Despite how overwhelming everything can get, young students with mental illnesses are still able
to find help in dealing with the stressors that cause them. This task in itself, however, proves to
be rather difficult under certain circumstances. The students may fear to open up, or shut
themselves away because they don’t feel as if others know what they might be going through.
More often than not, this disconnection can cause their mental health to spiral downward even
more, sometimes leading to unpleasant situations such as suicide or attempts at suicide. Even if
it doesn’t lead to suicide, kids and adults alike can still suffer from their deteriorating mental
health. As stated in “Consequences of Student Mental Health Issues”, an article from the Suicide
Prevention Resource Center, “Mental health can affect a student’s energy level, concentration,
dependability, mental ability, and optimism, hindering performance (Sprc.org).”

Combatting a mental illness is not that easy, but I strongly believe that educating oneself on
various mental illnesses and what causes them could be the first step to helping lessen the impact
later on in that person’s life. If schools gave an elective course in this area, it would help the
students figure out what exactly is going on in their own minds; it’d help them self-diagnose, in a
way. It would also help them to learn of ways to deal with their mental illness. The article
“Mental Health” from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that, “While the
expectation is that schools provide education, they also provide opportunities for youth to engage
in physical activity and academic, social, mental health, and physical health services, all of
which can relieve stress and help protect against negative outcomes (cdc.gov).” By
implementing these aspects in schools, it can go a long way to helping numerous kids with how
these mental illnesses challenge them.

The topic of mental health is very important to me, so I thank you for the time you take to read
this letter. I do hope that you will consider what I’ve written and I ask that you at least give
some thought to adding a mental health class to school curriculums. Again, I thank you for your
time. IF you wish to contact me further, my email is CDurb538@students.noc.edu.

Sincerely,

Caitlyn Durbin
 Works Cited
“A Guide to Untreated and Undiagnosed Mental Illness.” Turnbirdge.com
https://www.turnbridge.com/news-events/latest-articles/untreated-undiagnosed-mental-ill
ness/#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20over,an%20estimated%2011%20y
ear%20gap. Accessed 20 February, 2024.

This article talks about the impact of mental illnesses, why it sometimes goes
undiagnosed, as well as some of the symptoms of numerous mental illnesses. There wasn’t an
author or date stated on the article whenever I read it. The article is useful in the way that it
provides needed information and statistics about mental illnesses.

“Consequences of Student Mental Health Issues.” Sprc.og

https://sprc.org/settings/colleges-and-universities/consequences-of-student-mental-health-
issues/. Accessed 22 February, 2024.

This site talks about the consequences of not only the students, but the consequences of
campuses and larger areas as well. From what I could see, the website was either created in 2020
or that it had gathered sourcework from others in 2020. Other than that, I couldn’t find any other
dates other than those in the sourcework. The site is useful in the way that it gives more
awareness to mental health if not taken care of.

“How Mental Health Disorders Affect Youth.” Youth.gov

https://youth.gov/youth-topics/youth-mental-health/how-mental-health-disorders-affect-y
outh#:~:text=Youth%20with%20mental%20health%20disorders%20are%20more%20lik
ely%20to%20be,peer%20relationships%2C%20and%20aggressive%20behavior.
Accessed 22 February, 2024

This site gives multiple ways on how mental health disorders can affect young people,
their families, and their actions in schools. I couldn’t find an author or a date for this website,
but this website did feature sourcework, with the recent sourcework coming from 2019. The site
is reliable and useful in the way that it brings awareness to how declining mental health can
affect youth.

“Mental Health DASH CDC” Cdc.gov

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/mental-health/index.htm#:~:text=Adolescent%20Ment
al%20Health%20Continues%20to%20Worsen&text=In%202021%2C%20more%20than
%204,10%20(10%25)%20attempted%20suicide.