HAAL wins Rep. Lauren Underwood’s 2023 Congressional App Challenge in Illinois’s 14th District

When asked what inspired the creation of HAAL, the student said, “Mental health is becoming increasingly important in today’s day and age, yet from 22% of high school students in the past year said they had ‘seriously considered suicide,’ which is up from 16% in 2011 (CDC). According to the Boston’s Children Hospital, among children between the ages of 15 and 19, suicide is the second leading cause of death. According to the NIMH, almost 50% of adolescents have experienced a mental health disorder at some point in their life. Yet for people ages 35 and younger, only 15% of people had seen a mental health professional within one month of dying by suicide. Oftentimes, teens might feel like they have to suffer alone, or they simply don’t have the resources to reach out for help.

I have seen how mental health can negatively affect someone, both with family and friends. My grandmother has bipolar disorder, and my family saw her mental health deteriorate without social stimulation or an emotional outlet during the pandemic, and we had very limited ways to help her thousands of miles away. My grandma found solace in writing, which was a method of expressing one’s emotions that inspired me to create HAAL. In middle school, I would see my classmates crying alone in the bathroom, and I have had friends tell me they were thinking of harming themselves. Thankfully, the situation is getting better, and my Illinois’ Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill last year that allows for five excused absences for mental or behavioral health yearly for school-aged children, and my school has recently increased the number of counselors they have, but there is still a great scope for improvement. I don’t think many people know that although it seems like there is a greater focus on mental health, with the social isolation of the pandemic, lost jobs, and academic standards that are now harder to attain due to the loss of learning during 2020-2021, mental health disorders and suicide rates have skyrocketed.

I hope that HAAL provides an outlet for high schoolers both in the United States and across the globe; with its ability to track the severity of one’s emotional state and recommend mental health services, hopefully, teens can seek help before it’s too late.”