On Friday, Nov. 13, students attended the third annual Mental Health Fair. Prowler editors reflect on their experiences:

“It was online, but I still found it a very important educational experience. One of the booths I attended was “Anxiety: How Much is Too Much?” with Dr. Spiegel. With the circumstances we are in due to COVID-19, the rates of teen anxiety have increased immensely, she said, which I have definitely noticed.

Dr. Spiegel began asking us a series of questions and had us circle a number indicating how frequently these actions happened to us. This part of the panel really surprised me because, truthfully, I did not realize how anxious I truly am on a normal week. The questions were based on recent general events, not based on a singular school assignment or test, which is why I think I found my answers so surprising, thinking all my anxiety came from school when it truly does not. Once we completed answering the questions she explained to us how severe one’s anxiety is based on their total score. Being anxious is normal and healthy; however, when does it become too much? When do we need to seek help? ” – Payton Ozar

“I thought the mental health fair was very enjoyable! We began as a larger group listening to Alisha Pedowitz of Moving Traditions speak about sexuality. I thought that was very interesting, and it caused me to think about things I had never previously thought of. For example, Alisha had us think of a word that began with an A, T, and P, and [told us] that sexual words are what first comes to people’s minds. 

Next, I went to Dr. Lise Spiegel’s Zoom about anxiety and “How much is too much?” We began by taking a test to see where on the anxiety scale we fall. Some examples were: mildly anxious, moderately severe, and severe anxiety. Dr. Spiegel did an amazing job speaking about anxiety and how, instead of seeing it as being a horrible thing, we should look at anxiety as a positive, useful tool. Without anxiety, we wouldn’t have nerves before a test, a performance, or a speech, and those nerves or “arousal” as she put it, cause us to perform significantly better. 

Lastly, I attended the Teen Talk Zoom where we heard from Leeron Tzalka. She taught us a tapping strategy to use as a coping mechanism. ” – Samara Freedman

“The two stations I attended at the mental health fair were the addiction station and Teen Talk. At the addiction station, [Beit T’Shuvah: The Opposite of Addiction is Connection] we discussed the connection that we had to a person or activity. A connection I made was to writing and art. These two activities make me more positive and relaxed, as I let go of the stress because I’m so focused on this activity. 

In the Teen Talk station, we talked about meditation and pressure points as a coping skill. Facilitators Leeron Tzalka and Kendra Singer presented us with different ways to calm ourselves, like creating phrases to repeat or using a tap sequence when using pressure points. Both of these stations gave me information and new methods I will use to calm myself down, and I’m so pleased that I was able to learn with Teen Talk and the people involved with the addiction station.”  – Alexis Gavin