CHANDLER, AZ — May is Mental Health Awareness Month and one Valley organization has been providing free resources to the public.
Copa Health provides information and resources at no cost to anyone in, or connected to, the mental health community, including those living with a mental illness, their family members, friends and professionals.
The company recently highlighted a Valley high school graduate who made a difference in her Chandler Unified School District community.
Riana Alexander, a former CUSD student, made it her mission to change the way the district addressed student mental health.
She said she struggled with her own mental health crisis during high school a couple years ago, but she noticed some gaps in the response.
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"I think a lot of times people kind of push off kids that don't show up to class or are failing their assignments as just, you know, like troubled kids. And, you know, they're not bad teenagers. Sometimes they're just going through something, which is what I was going through," Alexander said. "I missed school for sometimes weeks at a time, and no one would call me to see if I was okay and, you know, I wasn't ditching, I just couldn't get out of bed."
She wanted the topic of mental health to be a more open conversation amongst her peers and for there to be less stigma.
They founded Arizona Students for Mental Health and had those open conversations, including with school district officials to get more resources in schools.
This school year, the district opened the Hope Institute at Perry High School.
The Hope Institute, which is based in Ohio, focuses on treating individuals, including youth, who may have suicidal thoughts or ideation.
"Once we started, you know, meeting with people, pretty much everybody agrees, there needs to be something done, they just don't have the outlet to do it," Alexander said. "It was really great to be able to kind of form our own outlet of action to be able to make some change in our district."
To find more resources for mental health, click here.