In light of the recent tragedy that rocked Gunn High School, it has become starkly apparent that there needs to be a change.

The school administrators continue to promote our ineffective "wellness service" that has continuously failed to address the actual underlying causes that impact students' mental health. Students are given limited access to any Wellness Center sessions longer than 15 minutes, and any serious issues are dismissed, and they are told to contact crisis text/call lines that can have delays up to 2 hours.

The school's lackluster response to the recent tragedy is awfully reminiscent of their actions after similar incidents in 2015. The continuation of inadequate responses that failed to support the community needs to change.

The administration needs to take the following steps to demonstrate their investment in dealing with the mental health problems our community faces:

-Stop requiring teacher passes to go to the Wellness Center (Teachers deny passes to students, preventing them from getting the support they need)

-Get rid of the 15-minute time limit on visits to the Wellness Center (15 minutes is not enough time for someone to deal with a serious mental health crisis)

-Use an online therapy service that does not require parental permission to use (This violates students' right to privacy, and disincentivizes any students with a troubled home life from accessing these services.)

-Provide adequate education of mental health issues (many students have been told that these conditions can be solved by "just cheering up" or "toughing it out")

The steps outlined are just the beginning of what is required if the administration truly wants to help the students they claim they want to support. If you or anyone you know is affected by mental health issues that go unaddressed by Gunn's "wellness services", please sign and share this petition to improve the situation for all students and their families.