An overall problem teens in this generation are struggling with is their mental health. There has been an increase with the teen suicide rate, and Gray Matters was created to help spread awareness about mental health, and give people who are struggling a place to go. Gray Matters is something that is now at Rocky, and has been pretty successful.
Calla Kean is a sophomore at Rock Island High School, and strongly believes that mental health is important to talk about. Calla states that, “Everyone struggles, and no one should have to go through it alone, and we need something to change because suicide rates need to go down.” Mrs. Greenwood has been a teacher at Rocky for 24 years, and knew she wanted to make an impact. Mrs. Greenwood felt that mental health was an important topic, as she states, “Most people need to realize that everyone has mental health, some just struggle with it more than others.” Calla also expresses that mental health is a topic that is not talked about enough. She says, “It needs to definitely be talked about more, but in the past few years, it has been a lot better and people aren’t as scared to talk about it.” Mrs. Greenwood also felt that mental health is a topic that is not touched. She states, “It is not talked about enough. There is still a stigma surrounding it, so people are embarrassed to talk about it.”
When Calla first heard about Gray Matters, she was interested by it, and she states that, “I knew it was about mental health and suicide prevention.” After attending her first meeting, she says, “I was very nervous, but everyone was very welcoming.” Calla says she knew she wanted to come back, and she also states, “The environment was amazing, and I love all the activities we did.” Gray Matters did chalk drawings outside the school. They went to the Starry Night Gala and many other fun events. Mrs. Greenwood didn’t really know about Gray Matters, but she then says, “I first heard about Gray Matters from my daughters. They knew Haley DeGreve, and they were able to get the first high school chapter created at Orion High School.” So she had heard of this awesome group, and knew she wanted to start it at Rocky. Mrs. Greenwood knew she wanted to do it at Rocky, but there were some challenges. She says, “Getting administration to back us with the program. We had to wait several months before we finally got approval from the central administration– long before we got approval from the principal.” She kept pushing for it, and expressing her thoughts on why it was such an important group to have, she states, “I saw a need for it in my students. Every day, I saw students struggling and not knowing what to do. I wanted to bring a program to RIHS that could assist students who were looking for help, but didn’t know where to start.” And after a good push, she finally got Gray Matter into Rocky.
After attending Gray Matters for a year, Calla was asked to be a leader and her goals were to, “Spread the word of mental health awareness and suicide prevention. If I am able to be someone others can trust to talk to about there struggles, I’m grateful I can help,” Calla says. She also is very glad Rocky has the Gray Matters Collective because, “It can be available for everyone much easier, and it also helps with talking about mental health with teens,” Calla says. If Calla could change one about Gray Matters she would change, she explains, “We need more people to join. There is great advertising, but more students need to take it more seriously.” After starting the club, Greenwood had one goal in mind, “To help one student. That’s it. One student. Any more students than that that have been helped are a huge bonus,” Mrs. Greenwood says. And that is something she stayed with.
As Calla thinks back on the last two years of being a part of the Gray Matters, she expresses how Gray Matters has impacted her, stating, “It has provided me with resources and new connections. Also, it has led me to Mrs Greenwood, who has always been there, and I’m very grateful for her.” Calla also shares her favorite memory from the last two years, stating, “The March On event in Geneseo. There were great speakers and seeing Hailey is always the best.” Mrs. Greenwood has a lot of memories with this group of kids, but her favorite, she states is, “My favorite memory is listening to Kevin Hines speak at the Gray Matters Collective Gala a couple of years ago. He is an amazing speaker with an amazing story.”
Calla has taken a lot from this experience, but she says, “Talk about mental health and other difficult topics. Don’t be afraid to speak up.” Calla talked about how it’s so important to talk about mental health, and she said, “If I met someone struggling with mental health, I would tell them, ‘It’s okay to not be okay. There are people here for them to speak to and never give up and their bad days will pass.'” The final goal was to make sure to leave an impact, and Mrs. Greenwood says, “Knowing that there is always someone who cares. Even on the days that we don’t feel like anyone does, Gray Matters proves that wrong.”
