Corbin student-athletes promote mental health awareness with award-winning original PSA

As we close out Mental Health Awareness Month, three Corbin High School students are receiving some much-deserved recognition after putting together an award-winning public service announcement about mental health as part of global HOSA – Future Health Professionals organization.

“HOSA began as ‘Health Occupation Students of America,’” explained Julia Rollins, health science teacher at the Corbin Area Technology Center. “About eight years ago it went international as a student-led organization, not a club.”

This year, three of Rollins’ students – Riley Lewis, Lindsay Jones and Hannah Perry – came together to create a 30-second PSA on the important topic of mental health. The project has been well-received, and was selected as an award winner at the Kentucky HOSA state healthcare conference earlier this spring.

“Our main points were education, validation and participation,” said Lewis, who is also a sophomore tennis player at CHS. “It is important to educate yourself about mental health in order to understand it, and also to provide validation to others by complimenting them, or just doing something to brighten their day. Participating in extracurricular activities, like those offered by HOSA, can also help mental health.”

“We included all of this in our video,” Lewis added. “And we tried to show some different ways that you can do each.”

Jones, who is also a sophomore on the CHS tennis team, said of the PSA project, “Mrs. Rollins thought that we would make a good team for this, but it was also something that we are all passionate about, so we took it on and had some creative freedom to do what we wanted with it.”

“We did a lot of research before starting the project,” Jones continued. “We made sure to know the facts of how students are affected by their mental health, and we wanted to bring that to the forefront in order to give encouragement to those who are struggling.”

Jones said the PSA is mainly geared towards students, but the three-pronged approach to addressing mental health issues that are outlined in the video can be applied to pretty much any situation where those struggles are taking place.

As for their experiences with presenting this project at the HOSA state conference, Perry said, “We were tasked with making the PSA first, but then we had to do a three-minute presentation covering the creative process, and who we were trying to reach with it. The conference itself was very different than last year’s, with a lot more people. There were some nerves to deal with, but we ended up doing pretty well.”

“Overall, it was a good experience,” added Perry, who is a sophomore on the Lady Hounds golf team. “Our presentation was challenging, but we are all really passionate about this.”

Perry said that the group surveyed students who watched the PSA in order to receive feedback. According to what they found, the vast majority of teens know someone struggling with a mental health issue, and believe that more efforts should be made to help those individuals.

“I think that a lot of times mental health just gets put on the back burner,” said Lewis. “Especially with teens who are involved in school and several other activities. It can get really stressful at times, so I think it is really important for PSA’s like ours to be shown in places like schools so that teens will know that they are supported, and that their mental health is important. It is a real issue, and we need to learn more about it so that we can take steps to improve it.”

Perry added that friends and family members play a very important role in the lives of people who are struggling with their mental health, saying, “It is always good to be aware of things. A lot of times, people will struggle with something and not say anything because maybe they feel ashamed. They might also be afraid of becoming a burden to someone, but being a family member or a friend and just recognizing these things, and letting them know that it is okay to talk, helps to create a safe place where they can get the help that they need.”

“For anyone dealing with this, as hard as it may seem, they need to be able to find somewhere where they can get that help, and not feel judged. Even if it’s just one person that they know they can go and safely talk with.”

Lewis, Jones and Perry all credit HOSA with presenting them with valuable opportunities, such as this PSA project. All three plan on pursuing various careers in the medical field one day, as does Chapter President Kaylin Bledsoe.

Bledsoe, who has cheered at CHS for the past three years, is about to begin attending classes at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, where she plans on studying to become a nurse anesthetist. When asked about her experiences with HOSA, she said, “I feel like it has just been a great opportunity for me. It not only teaches students about careers in the medical field, but it also teaches things like leadership and teamwork skills. We get to do a lot of fun things together.”

To find out more about the HOSA organization, visit them online at www.hosa.org. The mental health PSA created by Lewis, Jones and Perry can be viewed online as well by searching for “How to talk to friends and family about mental health PSA” on Youtube. Look for the video posted by the channel called “HOSA – PSA.”