Natasha, Student Intern

"My school counselors were overworked and their offices were always the busiest places in school."

"Hi, I am Natasha Bishop and I'm an intern at Alongside because I'm passionate about de-stigmatizing and supporting youth mental health.

Today I'd like to tell you how the Alongside app provides me the mental health support that I want as a student. When I was in seventh grade, my mental health just crashed and burned.

I had several anxiety attacks and panic attacks while I was at school, but when the teachers would try to get me help and reach out to my counselors, we were always given the same answer. No, they just didn't have time because my school's counselors were overworked and their offices were always the busiest places in school. There would be lines waiting outside for people to talk to them.

For many people, their only lifeline to mental health support is through their school counselors who are stretched far too thin and don't have time to reach all of the students who need help and Alongside can do anything from letting someone just rant about their everyday life to even saving people's lives. For that reason, I know that Alongside is going to take massive steps in helping schools to combat the mental health crisis."