“We’re trying to just stop the stereotype that men don’t have feelings and men can’t talk about their feelings,” said Berkeley High School junior Zahir Carmona Quintanilla, “We do that by, rather than ignoring the issue, taking action (against it).” Carmona Quintanilla is a member of the BHS Men’s Mental Health Club, a club dedicated to improving the discussion surrounding mental health, especially for BHS’ male-identifying students who find themselves without a community where they can openly and honestly discuss their mental health. Members of the club have found support in addressing their inner turmoil. “We talk about personal struggles, telling people it’s okay to not be okay, telling people it’s okay to talk about their feelings and what they’re going through. I feel like opening up is the first big step,” Carmona Quintanilla said.
BHS has a range of organizations, programs, and clubs that focus on supporting and catering to students’ physical and emotional health. However, due to pressure that is deeply ingrained in society for men to suppress their emotions and negative feelings, many young men have trouble confronting and processing their emotions. BHS juniors Mack Davis and Casey Warren took note of this early on, and from their own personal experience decided to start a club that would address this issue, encouraging students to share their feelings with the goal of creating a cohesive and sympathetic community, breaking down decades-long barriers. “I kept noticing that guys weren’t able to talk about mental health and there wasn’t really space for that at school at all. I remember thinking it was kind of crazy that no one had tried to start one, so instead of waiting, I got a couple guys together and then we decided to start it ourselves,” Davis said.
The club has weekly meetings where the leaders of the club, Davis and Warren, begin with discussing their own experiences with emotional well-being, encouraging their members to do the same. “A lot of guys think they’re supposed to handle everything on their own, so we focus on educating people that the struggle doesn’t make you weak and talking about it can actually help,” Davis said, “And that often the support comes from a community and we try to build that community.” Through their fundraising and promoting of their cause, the Men’s Mental Health Club has gained substantial support from BHS students and has become a space for students to express their emotions in a safe, understanding environment. “We’ve had probably five to 10 new people at every meeting, so just new faces getting the word out. People seem to like it and they share it to their friends and they keep coming back,” Davis said.
The club’s mission spans beyond solely creating a safe space for BHS students to discuss mental health. It is a community that creates an encouraging and motivating atmosphere for students to recognize their mental health struggles and relate to others who might be dealing with similar feelings. The club’s close-knit community allows for students to feel welcomed and comfortable in expressing themselves and their experiences, leading to more students becoming secure in their emotional well-being, incrementally breaking down the stigma of men experiencing mental health issues. “It’s okay to talk to any of us, it’s okay to talk to somebody,” Carmona Quintanilla said, “You don’t gotta go through it alone, sometimes we all think we gotta go through our stuff alone, but we really don’t.”
The club pushes students to fully acknowledge and embrace their emotions.