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May is mental health month, and building awareness is the key to helping those suffering from mental health disorders. Are you aware of how difficult it is to spot those suffering from mental health disorders? It is likely that you may have heard about the beautiful and popular University of Pennsylvania track star, Madison Holleran, who tragically took her own life last year. She exhibited no warning signs of depression or suicidal thoughts. According to friends and family, she seemed happy, and her social media accounts corroborated this. Sadly, her social media posts created a false sense of well being. With so much focus on social media, we become so concerned with how our lives appear online. But what happens when our online lives are a lie? With a little help from Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, we are able to create an identity that we want to put out to the world. We are able to decide how our friends, family, and even strangers, see us. The power to decide what to post online bears with it the risk of creating a false persona that casts a shadow over reality.

Think about the thoughts that go through your head when you're about to post an Instagram picture, most likely they are along the lines of "do I look skinny and tan in this?" or "wow look how fun", etc. But as much as we want to share the highlights of our lives, it can be easy to assume that other people are truly as happy as they seem on their Instagram account. In fact, this is simply a highlight reel, a falsified life, that includes only their best moments, which have been filtered and edited. As much as we are aware that some people don't look the same in real life, try not to forget that they might not feel the same in real life as well.

Mental health disorders, especially among young adults, still carry a strong stigma that can often prevent people from admitting they need help and getting it. If gone untreated, they have the potential to end in tragedy, not to mention making day to day life near impossible. While many initiatives have been taken to raise awareness about mental health, many still believe that it doesn't affect them. While you yourself might not be suffering, don't be too quick to assume that those around you are as happy and carefree as they might seem on social media. If something seems off with one of your friends, don't brush it off. They may need help but are too scared to ask for it. Many people keep their suffering hidden and even a little glimpse you might see could be a sign that they need help.

Though the awareness has been raised, the prevalence of people with mental health disorders is becoming alarmingly more common, especially among young adults in college. According to a survey of advisors from the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors, 41.6 percent of college students claimed anxiety as a concern, followed by 36.4 percent saying depression, and 35.8 percent with relationship problems. Unfortunately, 19 percent of directors reported the availability of psychiatric services on their campus inadequate. These statistics make for a terrifying reality in which the rate of mental health disorders is increasing rapidly, a pace in which help resources on campuses are not keeping up with.

What can you do? Don't be afraid to ask for help. Whether it is for yourself, or for someone you know who might be suffering. There are resources available if only you will reach out to use them. Never assume social media is reality, and always be kind. You never know what someone is dealing with internally.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: (800) 273-8255 Tallahassee Crisis Hotline: (850) 644-8255 Tallahassee Memorial Behavioral Health Center: (850) 431-5100 NOLES C.A.R.E: www.counseling.fsu.edu/for-students/nolescare/

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Real Life vs. Online Life: How Social Media Is Hiding Depression

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May is mental health month, and building awareness is the key to helping those suffering from mental health disorders. Are you aware of how difficult it is to spot those suffering from mental health disorders? It is likely that you may have heard about the beautiful and popular University of Pennsylvania track star, Madison Holleran, who tragically took her own life last year.

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Alyssa: Read and analyze article, write level two and three questions, Find at least 1 direct quote, bring poster, draw, bring markers, color, think of what to write. I used critical thinking skills to accomplish these tasks by deciding the most important aspects to include in the questions, I had to read through our article and make sure it aligned with the message we were trying to portray, I had to scan through the article to be able to pick out the most important quote that stood out to me. For the creative component, i had to
Emily: I answered these questions by thinking creatively. Reading through the article showed me the perspective of reality vs social media. I choose eye appealing colors and colored the poster.
Aarick: Find specific aspect of literary work to form connection, write an 8-10 sentence paragraph, creative plan of attack, division of roles for creative aspect. -Help color and think of what to write.  I used creative and critical thinking to form a connection between the novel and modern society.

-All, color and write.
Creative Component:
Were choosing to draw a poster about the difference between the thing

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Social media is used very frequently today. One would say the characters in "The Great Gatsby" are a good representation on how social media is currently being used. Gatsby is one of the main characters that has money and has huge parties at his house. We find out later in the story, that he uses these parties and money to hide that he is lonely. "Mental health disorders, especially among young adults, still carry a strong stigma that can often prevent people from admitting they need help and getting it." (The Odyssey) This relates to society today because people usually only post the "highlights" of their lives and hiding their true feelings in reality.

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LEVEL 2
1) Where might people turn to, to share about their life?
- Most people might turn to social media to share about themselves. Many may go to Facebook or Instagram to show people how they're living.
2) Who will mostly experience mental health disorders?
- Young adults in college will experience mental health disorders most often because of their depression. They may experience anxiety between dealing with life and school.
3) What types of things would people put online to express a need for help?
- People may post depressing quotes or talk about problems they're going through in the caption. Although they post things like this, they might still say they're fine, sometimes it takes more to help someone if they don't want the help.
LEVEL 3
1) why would people choose to keep their problems hidden from others?
- They might not want people to know about their personal life. Maybe they have things that their family or friends would  judge them over so they  choose to keep their problems hidden from everyone just to save that situation.
2) How might people obtain help if they're suffering or in a bad state of mind?
- By trying to reach out to maybe an old friend, family member or counselor. Someone they know they can trust to open up to and express their feelings while not feeling any judgement.
3) Why might people not want to seek help for their problems and turn to social media instead?
- They may be scared of the outcome or just want to keep it to themselves. They may turn to social media as an escape route to express the way they feel while maybe not receiving the judgement they can get from the people they know.

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Were choosing to draw a poster about the difference between the things people post versus how they really feel. Although people may not say that they're upset or having problems, they still might post as if everything's fine and there's no problems. It takes a lot sometimes for people to be able to open up and express their feelings. We thought this was a pretty good way to show our thinking, and express by picture, our thought process.