Student Group Works To ‘Stomp the Stigma’ Around Talking About Mental Health

“A lot of us especially are dealing with five, six AP classes at a time, plenty of extracurriculars, on top of that, maintaining personal relationships. In many instances, it can become too much.”

By Syeda HasanJanuary 20, 2020 1:23 pmEducation, Health & Science, KERA, Partner Organizations, Texas Newsroom

Courtesy of Stomp the Stigma

The Stomp the Stigma team speaks about their mental health initiative at an event for the North Texas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

From KERA:

On a Monday morning, 11th graders Kedar Kashyap and Marjan Tukdi left Centennial High School in Frisco to spend the day at Lawler Middle School across the street, teaching younger students about mental health.

“So we [have] four stations happening right now,” Tukdi said. “We have an introduction where we talk about HOSA, Stomp the Stigma, and why we’re here, and then we have a fun activity… to improve their mood.”

Kashyap and Tukdi are members of HOSA, a student organization for future health professionals. A few years ago, they got together with two other students in HOSA, 12th graders Shashank Easwar and Zaina Ghaffar. Together, they launched a mental health initiative called Stomp the Stigma. It started as an idea for a HOSA competition. Now, the group is trying to expand its reach.

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