CHANDLER, AZ — May is Mental Health Awareness Month and one Valley organization has been providing free resources to the public. Copa Health provides information and resources at no cost to anyone in, or connected to, the mental health community, including those living with a mental illness, their family members, friends and professionals. The company recently highlighted a Valley high school graduate who made a difference in her Chandler Unified School District community.
Riana Alexander, a former CUSD student, made it her mission to change the way the district addressed student mental health. She said she struggled with her own mental health crisis during high school a couple years ago, but she noticed some gaps in the response. WE'RE HERE TO HELP Do you have a concern in your community or a news tip? We want to hear from you! Email us: share@abc15.
com Follow us: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube "I think a lot of times people kind of push off kids that don't show up to class or are failing their assignments as just, you know, like troubled kids. And, you know, they're not bad teenagers. Sometimes they're just going through something, which is what I was going through," Alexander said.
"I missed school for sometimes weeks at a time, and no one would call me to see if I was okay and, you know, I wasn't ditching, I just couldn't get out of bed." She wanted the topic of mental health to be a more open conversation amongst her peers and for there to be less stigma. They founded .
