On November 14, Lingnore High School hosted a guest speaker to talk to students about stress, depression and anxiety.

Stress and depression are common mental health issues for young adults and teens. Educating students on the best ways to handle these issues was the focus of the presentation by event speaker Dr. Veara Pack’Buter, mother of Linganore student —-. 

Pack’Butler said, “I was here to encourage students to help themselves by teaching them how to control their emotions in a positive manner. It was my goal for them to know that it’s okay to seek help when struggling with negative thoughts [and] emotions.”

This presentation was held during PREP in the LHS auditorium and was open to all grades. Teachers were invited to sign up their PREP class to attend, and the event reached capacity with approximately 50 students attending. The event was intentionally kept small to allow students to engage with the speaker.

Pack’Butler grabbed the students’ attention by having them participate in activities and questions. Students were able to express their emotions in a safe environment and get feedback on how to cope with stress, depression, and anxiety.

The students at this event were taught positive ways to handle these negative emotions. Pack’Butler shared techniques and allowed students to try them out in the session.

At the end of the event, students were gifted stress fidgets to help them alleviate stress.

“The presentation was nice, but I felt like the time given for it was not enough … if it was longer, students would benefit from it [more]. I have not talked to students to see how it impacted them, but I did talk to the teachers that were there and they said that they heard and saw positive impacts from their students,” said Assistant Principal Marcus Allen who helped organize the event.

Hopefully the students that attend this learned some things and are able to share that with their peers and friends. Pack’Butler also offered her services to our school.