These high school students are tackling Kentucky's mental health crisis

Tired of seeing their peers anxious and depressed, these students decided to take action

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An insidious problem is lurking in Kentucky's schools: Students across the state are reporting high amounts of psychological stress, anxiety, and depression. The problem has become so bad that suicide is now the second leading cause of death for the state's youth.

While nationally, mental health awareness has increased, for Kentucky's teenagers, the issue isn't getting nearly enough attention. During her sophomore year, Kentucky high schooler Allison Tu realized mental health was being treated like an afterthought in her school. "One student told me that all of their suicide prevention education, which is mandated, technically, by Kentucky law but left up to districts to administer, is just a bookmark," Tu explained to The Week. "A literal, physical bookmark that has a suicide prevention hotline number on it, and that was it."

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Rainesford Stauffer

Rainesford Stauffer is a writer who has been published by The New York Times, The Cut, Teen Vogue, Mic, and ThinkProgress, among others.