Over the last few years, mental health has been an ubiquitous topic. In
the past, mental health was looked at in a bad way or discriminated against. Over a period of time, more and more people began to understand that this topic is significant. World Mental Health Day is celebrated annually on October 10. This special day is for raising awareness on how important mental health issues can be.

First celebrated in 1992, World Mental Health Day was created by the World Federation of Mental Health led by Richard Hunter while in retirement. He volunteered as chief operating officer of the World Federation for Mental Health. The federation is an international mental health advocacy and education organization located in Alexandria, Virginia. Their main purpose was to advocate for mental health as a whole.

Pottsville provides students and staff with resources for everyone to use. Aevidum club was welcomed to Pottsville last year.

Aevidum is a club at Pottsville Area High School that helps students with the silence around mental issues and how to deal with them. Aevidum provides a place for students to feel accepted, appreciated, and cared for.

Senior Maura McDonald said, “I’m the leader of the Aevidum club. Aevidum is a student-run club, that helps kids that don’t feel included or feel like they need someone to talk to I was the very first person to bring this to school and ask to start the club I joined because I knew it would be a good club for our school and would help kids get out of their comfort zone.”

“Aevidum is welcome to anyone and you don’t need a story to join,” said senior Livia Hable. “Aevidum helps students have a safe spot to come clean about what is causing their mental health harm. Aevidum helps spread mental health awareness and it leaves students with the message that you are never alone and someone has your back. Aevidum is not only good for Pottsville but it is amazing for schools to give students the opportunity to open up about their lives, which can be a scary thing to do,” another resource is the app Safe2Say. This app is used for more than just mental health.

Safe2Say is an app everyone has access to on their iPads or on any mobile device. This resource is used for many different reasons including keeping our school safe or if you have a concern about a fellow classmate. Here, you can report an anonymous tip if you think it should be taken care of. Safe2Say teaches students and staff how to recognize warning signs and encourages them to say something.