A Day Off for Mental Health 

Ben Ballman was busier—and more anxious—than he’d ever been before by the time he reached his junior year in high school.

“I had moments where it felt like the whole world was coming down on me,” he says. “It was definitely a really difficult time.”

Before the pandemic shut everything down, his day started at 6:30 a.m., when he woke up to get ready for school. Next came several Advanced Placement courses, then either soccer practice or his job at a plant nursery, studying for the SAT, and various extracurricular activities. He often didn’t start his homework until 11 p.m. and finally went to bed three hours later. Every day it was the same grueling schedule.

“It’s not even that I was going above and beyond; it was, ‘This is the bare minimum,’” says Ballman, now 19 and a recent graduate of Winston Churchill High School in Maryland. “It’s like a pressure cooker that’s locked down. There’s nowhere to escape. Eventually you just kind of burst at some point, or, hopefully, you can get through it.”

Faced with high stress levels among adolescents and a mental health crisis that includes rising suicide rates, some states are now allowing students to declare a mental health day. In the past few years, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Virginia have all passed bills permitting students to be absent from school for mental or behavioral health reasons, efforts that were often aided or spearheaded by young people.

By his junior year in high school, Ben Ballman was busier and more anxious than he’d ever been before.

“I had moments where it felt like the whole world was coming down on me,” he says. “It was definitely a really difficult time.”

Before the pandemic shut everything down, his day started at 6:30 a.m., when he woke up to get ready for school. Next came several Advanced Placement courses. After school, he either went to soccer practice or his job at a plant nursery. And he also spent a lot of time studying for the SAT or doing other after-school activities. That meant that he often didn’t start his homework until 11 p.m. Then he finally went to bed three hours later. Every day it was the same packed, brutal schedule.

“It’s not even that I was going above and beyond; it was, ‘This is the bare minimum,’” says Ballman, now 19 and a recent graduate of Winston Churchill High School in Maryland. “It’s like a pressure cooker that’s locked down. There’s nowhere to escape. Eventually you just kind of burst at some point, or, hopefully, you can get through it.”

Adolescents are dealing with high stress levels and a mental health crisis that includes rising suicide rates. In response, some states are now allowing students to declare a mental health day. In the past few years, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Virginia have all passed bills allowing students to be absent from school for mental or behavioral health reasons. These efforts were often aided or led by young people.

In 2020, the advocacy group Mental Health America surveyed teens about the top three things that would be most helpful for their mental health. More than half cited the ability to take a mental health break or absence from school or work. And in a 2020 Harris poll of more than 1,500 teens, 78 percent said schools should support mental health days to allow students to prioritize their health.

Ballman says that as a high school student, he spoke with classmates who were struggling and needed support but didn’t know where to turn. So he organized a coalition of students to improve mental health services for students in his state. In 2021, he spent months supporting a mental health day bill in Maryland, but it stalled in the state Senate.

There’s some debate over what constitutes a mental health day and how best to spend it. Typically, it’s a day to rest, recalibrate, and take a break from your regular routine. Harold S. Koplewicz, an adolescent psychiatrist based in New York City, supports the idea of mental health days, but he cautions against using them to avoid anxiety-inducing situations at school.

In 2020, the advocacy group Mental Health America surveyed teens about the top three things that would be most helpful for their mental health. More than half cited the ability to take a mental health break or absence from school or work. And in a 2020 Harris poll of more than 1,500 teens, 78 percent said schools should support mental health days to allow students
to focus on their health.

Ballman says that as a high school student, he spoke with classmates who were struggling and needed support but didn’t know where to turn. So he organized a team of students to improve mental health services for students in his state. In 2021, he spent months supporting a mental health day bill in Maryland, but it got held up in the state Senate.

There’s some debate over what defines a mental health day and how best to spend it. Typically, it’s a day to rest, recharge, and take a break from your regular routine. Harold S. Koplewicz, an adolescent psychiatrist based in New York City, supports the idea of mental health days. Still, he cautions against using them to avoid anxiety-inducing situations at school.

Even before Covid-19, the state of children’s mental health had worsened over the past decade. Between 2009 and 2019, an increasing percentage of American youth reported feeling sad or hopeless for at least two weeks “to the degree that they could not engage in their usual activities,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) reported.

In a 2018 Pew Research Center poll, 70 percent of teenagers said anxiety and depression were major problems among their peers. The percentage of students who seriously considered suicide has also risen in the past decade. And suicide has become the second leading cause of death among adolescents (after unintentional injuries). In December, U.S. surgeon general Vivek Murthy issued a 53-page report warning that young people are facing “devastating” mental health effects.

Even before Covid-19, the state of children’s mental health had worsened over the past decade. Between 2009 and 2019, an increasing percentage of American youth reported feeling sad or hopeless for at least two weeks “to the degree that they could not engage in their usual activities,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) reported.

In a 2018 Pew Research Center poll, 70 percent of teenagers said anxiety and depression were major problems among their peers. The percentage of students who seriously considered suicide has also risen in the past decade. And suicide has become the second leading cause of death among adolescents (after accidental injuries). In December, U.S. surgeon general Vivek Murthy issued a 53-page report about this growing issue. In it, he warns that young people are facing “devastating” mental health effects.

The pandemic has further exacerbated some of these problems. The surgeon general’s report found that emergency room visits for suicide attempts rose 51 percent for adolescent girls in early 2021, compared to the same period in 2019. The figure rose 4 percent for boys.

Schools are experimenting with other methods beyond mental health days to help students cope with their daily stressors. The Jordan School District in West Jordan, Utah, is using “wellness rooms,” where students can decompress for 10 minutes if they’re feeling overwhelmed. And some schools in Colorado have created “oasis rooms”—student lounges staffed with peer counselors and other resources.

Melanie Zhou, 19, who attended ThunderRidge High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, worked with other students to create the oasis rooms after a friend died by suicide.

The pandemic has made some of these problems worse. The surgeon general’s report found that emergency room visits for suicide attempts rose 51 percent for adolescent girls in early 2021, compared to the same period in 2019. The figure rose 4 percent for boys.

Schools are experimenting with other methods beyond mental health days. They’re aiming to help students cope with their daily stressors. The Jordan School District in West Jordan, Utah, is using “wellness rooms.” In these rooms, students can decompress for 10 minutes if they’re feeling overwhelmed. And some schools in Colorado have created “oasis rooms.” These student lounges are staffed with peer counselors and other resources.

Melanie Zhou, 19, attended ThunderRidge High School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. She worked with other students to create the oasis rooms after a friend died by suicide.

“When my friend passed away, I had no idea how to grieve properly,” she says.

Like Ballman, Zhou feels that academics were the priority at her school, not self-care. And at home, “mental health was not talked about very clearly or openly,” she says.

One advantage of declaring a mental health day and recognizing its importance at the state level is that—ideally—it can help families start to have more open conversations about subjects related to mental health and potentially reduce some of the stigma associated with self-care, says Jennifer Rothman of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a diagnosable illness,” Rothman says, “it just means that you are taking a break.”

“When my friend passed away, I had no idea how to grieve properly,” she says.

Like Ballman, Zhou feels that academics were the main focus at her school, not self-care. And at home, “mental health was not talked about very clearly or openly,” she says.

Declaring a mental health day and noting its importance at the state level could be beneficial, says Jennifer Rothman of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. It can help families start to have more open conversations about mental health. It might also reduce some of the stigma related to self-care, she adds.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a diagnosable illness,” Rothman says, “it just means that you are taking a break.”

Additional reporting by Patricia Smith.

Additional reporting by Patricia Smith.