Although mental health has been viewed as a difficult and fragile topic to discuss amongst teenagers, South High student Ngoc Vuong has taken a stand to change that.

Vuong was a freshman at South High when the realization hit him that a group that focuses on dismantling the stigmas and misconceptions about mental health amongst teenagers was needed in the district and overall, in the community. But, it wasn’t until his junior year that he started getting together with peers and administrators to discuss the topic of mental health and eventually form ICTeens In Mind and then later it’s predecessor, The South High Mental Health Taskforce.

ICTeens In Mind is a student-led mental health advocacy organization which operates within the greater Wichita area. They work on dismantling the stigmas and misconceptions associated with mental illness, as well as the barriers which prevent students from receiving the mental support they need. “All in all, our group works on raising awareness on mental health, and affirming this community’s support for the people in our community who face adversities in their lives,” Vuong said. One way they plan to do that is by forming a coalition of local leaders, community organizations, mental health service providers, and schools, which is where North High comes into play.

With the start of this new school year, ICTeens In Mind has taken off and really started to expand to other schools and reach a bigger audience rather than just the South High student body. With the help of students from all over the district Vuong and ICTeens has been able to build a group of students that are not afraid to discuss the topic of mental health. One of those students he has enlisted to help in this movement is our very own Ivan Castillo.

Vuong reached out to Castillo a couple of months ago when Ivan was writing an article about Vuong’s ICTeens In Mind group for Affinity Magazine. Vuong approached Castillo with the idea of joining and bringing North High into this program and even though Castillo has only been apart of the group for only a few months, he’s already thinking of ways of incorporating ICTeens into North. “Since I am the current HOSA chapter president I want to incorporate our national service project with ICTeens in Mind since HOSA is partnered with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)”, Castillo said. “I really want to bring in that project and develop it so that it impacts not only the BioMed and HOSA communities but the rest of the North community as well.”

South High has just undergone their mental health week campaign which consisted of students wearing specific colors throughout the week to help raise awareness for depression, stress/anxiety, eating disorders and suicide prevention. They are encouraging other schools to start on their own campaigns to really start up conversation on this topic. They are striving for most of all the Wichita area schools to hold at least once campaign week before the semester ends. Castillo and the rest of the HOSA members haven’t really began to plan our a campaign week yet but Ivan has said he is “trying to see what other schools are doing and trying to see what works and what doesn’t and then base it off of there.”