My name is Tyler Key. I’m 17 years old and a senior from the class of 2024 at Sun Valley High School in Monroe, NC. This Fall, I will attend Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, majoring in Sports Management. I’m also a student-athlete, and I’m committed to playing football for the Quakers. Mental health is an essential issue at the forefront of my teenage years. There is such a stigma associated with mental health and even the conversation surrounding it, especially within the black community. Although I’m still relatively young, I’ve learned so much about mental health, specifically my mental health, during my high school years. My mother suffered a traumatic event when her mother died from breast cancer when she was 17 years old, and then her dad died seven months later from kidney failure. She wasn’t aware that her crippling anxiety was directly related to her mental health until she was an adult. She was told to pray instead of seeking professional help. When she received professional help, she vowed that her children would be raised differently. My freshman year of high school was when the pandemic began, and I found myself struggling mentally with having to be home and isolated from the rest of the world. With most of my extended family living in Brooklyn, NY, one of the hardest hit areas, 11 of our family members died in a very short time. As a football player, I believed the myth that checking in with my mental health was a weakness, so I was hesitant to tell anyone that I was struggling with severe depression. Thankfully, my parents noticed the dramatic change in me and intervened. They immediately sought professional help, but I was initially resistant to it. It took many therapy sessions for me to understand that I was adding to the stigma and that keeping up a façade didn’t serve me. It took some time, but from that experience, I learned that my mental health is just as equally important as my physical health. The same way I take care of my body, I have to do for my mental state. With professional help, I developed positive coping methods like meditation and journaling. Skills that I’ve shared with many of my friends. I also learned how to communicate when I needed support, which led to my parents allowing me a day off from school to address my mental health. On those days, I would focus solely on doing things that made me feel connected to myself and whole. The journey with my mental health has been filled with lessons, and I’m grateful that I’ve developed tools to guide me in adulthood. I’m blessed that I didn’t have to suffer in silence for years like my mom, and I plan to continue to be transparent about my struggles so that other young men know that it’s perfectly fine to speak out and seek professional help. Through one of the most challenging periods of my life, I’ve discovered meditation, journaling, the importance of regular self-check-ins, and now daily positive affirmations. The dysfunctional generational patterns ended with me, so every child in my family will have the tools to fight the stigma associated with mental health. My life isn’t perfect, and I still have rough days, but I know how to recognize when I’m struggling; I know that I am loved and supported, and I’m equipped to handle whatever comes my way. I’ve developed so much confidence in knowing this, and that confidence will only strengthen as the years go by.