Greene County High School hosts mental health fair

By WVUA 23 News Student Reporter Peyton Newman

The Youth Advisory Council at Greene County High School hosted a fair this week focused on educating the community on mental health. 

The Mind Your Mental event featured displays from local organizations, mental health professionals, games, performances and more. There were speeches from students as well as community members dispelling the stigmas often surrounding mental health. 

The goal of this event was encouraging people to be more open about their mental health struggles and more willing to seek help or help others find help. 

Greene County High School At-Risk Coordinator Marshae Madison Pelt said she hopes participants left the event knowing what steps to take toward better mental health. 

“We want our students to know that it is OK to not be OK, but it is not OK to struggle in silence,” Pelt said. “You need to speak, you need to let someone know that something is wrong.” 

Siegfried Williams, the lead facilitator of the fair, hopes this event provides members of the community with information on proper mental health resources.

“What we want to do is to offer resources to our community,” Williams said. “We’re in a rural area, so we don’t have very many resources here. I want to make sure that they have access to several resources they would need to get help.” 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was so impressed with the council’s plan for this event that they presented organizers a $25,000 grant.