Hello! I’m Kate Parker, a junior here at Durham Academy. I have always been passionate about mental health and how mental illness affects young students such as ourselves. Over the pandemic, I, like many other people, experienced how the effects of not caring for our mental health can negatively impact our lives. Yet, I was also able to take the time to start learning about different coping mechanisms and even implementing them into my own life. I tried daily meditation, journaling, spending time with animals, nature walks, time management techniques, and even painting! When I truly started noticing and working on my mental health, I saw major improvements. Now, I want to bring that passion for caring about mental health to this DA community! Hopefully, through researching the positive affects of these different coping mechanisms, our DA community can greatly improve on the “happy” aspect of being “moral, happy, and productive.”