My name is Cadence Jacoby. Recently I lost my 17 year old brother, Ryder Jacoby, to suicide. He battled with depression most of his teenage years. Mental health has always been a complicated and fascinating topic for me. Due to these recent events, I am now more than ever a strong advocate for mental health awareness. So far we have already made change in our community for safety measures on the same highway, recent suicides have happened, including my brothers. Mental health is more important than ever. Up until now, my school district has had 3 suicides in the last 10 months. This is not a shot at my school district in any way, shape or form, but rather a wake up call to get up and REFLECT. According to the CDC,

39.7% of students experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, 28.5% experienced poor mental health, 20.4% seriously considered attempting suicide, and 9.5% had attempted suicide. 

If we apply those percentages to my high school (with an enrollment of more than 3000 kids) ,that equates to around 300 kids attempting suicide at some point and a whopping 1200+ students feeling persistent sadness.

CDC states All protective factors were associated with lower prevalence of one or more risk indicators. We need these PROTECTIVE FACTORS

According to education week website,The U.S. Department of Education will stop funding roughly $1 billion in grants that were meant to boost the ranks and training of mental health professionals who work in schools

We need to be contacting our representatives to oppose the funding school mental health services. We also need to spark attention, passion, and motivation. I, Cadence Jacoby want to put an end to this and start change.