Everyone has those days: the ones where getting out of bed feels like running a marathon and everything feels too overwhelming to function. Most kids feel embarrassed to say they need a day for depression, anxiety, or stress instead of just saying they have the flu. This is an issue that needs to change; mental health needs to be taken just as seriously as physical illness. Students need to be able to take days off for mental health.
Mental health days allow students to take time for themselves. With the constant struggle to balance extracurriculars, academics, jobs, special events and time with friends and family, students can often feel buried beneath it all. Students have to feel like they are able to take a mental day to catch up on work or just relax and catch up mentally.
Taking care of yourself is a skill that will matter beyond high school and probably be more important than what you learn in math class the day you skip. School can feel like a race to keep up with assignments, training for sports, and be at events. This adds so much pressure to kids’ daily lives. If kids could take mental health days, they could reset before things get bad and they have a serious issue. If schools would allow excused mental health days, it would take away the bad rap of saying you’re struggling or need a break. This would help kids open up about issues they have and not feel forced to pretend they’re fine. It encourages taking care of themselves and recognizing when they need help, which is a hard skill to teach someone or learn.
And yes, there is the argument that kids will take advantage of it and use it to skip school, but this could easily be solved by school administration setting a couple rules to manage this. One example could be requiring kids to check in with their counselor after taking a mental health day. This allows for time to make sure they’re alright and to verify they had a legitimate reason. Another possible rule is having a certain amount of mental health days previously set for students to take, and if a kid is really needing more they can meet with the counselor and make a plan to help themselves. Kids may miss school on these days, which some people argue will hurt their academics, but I believe that going to class with anxiety, depression, or just feeling overwhelmed can be more adverse on their academics. Additionally, if kids get a little behind, they could meet with the teacher and explain the situation so the teacher could give them some more time or supply some extra help in assignments and lessons.
Taking a break for a day to clear your head might be the perfect thing someone might need for their focus and mental health overall.
All of these things considered, mental health days wouldn’t be a way to skip a big test or get out of class, they would be a chance for kids to take care of themselves and make sure they fix little problems before they become big issues. We as a society, and as a school community, need to recognize mental health is just as important as physical health and make sure kids are getting the support they need. A chance for a day off to clear their mind is a small, but important step in the right direction.
Excused mental health days in school would benefit more than they would harm. The student body deserves a chance to work at their own pace, and full potential, and mental health days would be just the thing they need.
