Loneliness. Guilt. Shame. Hopelessness. Signs of a struggling student aren’t always easy to see, but Elena Labastida is trained to know them all.

Labastida has been the school’s mental health therapist since August 2019. She spends her days helping students understand and learn how to deal with their own mental health struggles. 

“We want you guys to know here at LQHS that we care about you,” she said. “There’s something about this age group where you guys really are open to learning. You want to know why things are happening, you’re curious, and I think that’s awesome.” 

Labastida has been working at La Quinta High School for three years, though she has been a therapist for 12 years. She’s worked with adults in the past but expresses her strong love of working with teenagers. In fact, it’s her favorite part of the job. 

“Teenagers are going through a unique stage of development where they begin to question everything they know and start forming their own opinions about life,” Labastida said. While these years of growth are in many ways a good thing, it could and often does—negatively contribute to the large presence of mental illness in teens.

An “LQ Student Support Survey” sent to the student body of La Quinta High School—first in April 2021 and again in August 2021—showed that distance learning had a significant negative impact on the mental health of students. 

Labastida reported that the survey revealed that 30-35% of the student population had anxiety. Though, she noted, it’s realistically now closer to double that percentage. 

“Anxiety has become the common cold. When you get a cold, you’re like, ‘Oh, okay, you have a cold, I’ll get over it!’ So anxiety is sort of a thing, everybody is struggling with anxiety,” Labastida said.

One of the key signs of a struggling student is an excessive amount of guilt and shame.

“Guilt can be appropriate at times,” Labastida said. “If we did something wrong to somebody, it’s appropriate to feel guilt. And so what do we do? We apologize. But we’re not talking about that type of guilt, we’re talking about the type of guilt where we assume responsibility for other people’s actions.”

This increase of guilt, she added, among teens is due to overexposure to social media. 

“It’s hard enough to focus on ourselves, and so we start watching all these things that are happening around us in our community, our country, and the world, we then get burdened,” she said.

At LQHS, there are resources students can access if someone’s struggling with their mental health. Labastida runs many different support groups on campus including an anxiety group and an anger group. If students feel like they benefit from these supports, they can talk to her or their personal academic counselor to work together and find the perfect plan for students to get the help they need.

Labastida also encourages parents to become educated, seek professional help, and talk to their children. 

“There’s a misconception or a false belief that if we talk to our students about suicide it’s going to give them the idea to hurt themselves,” she said. “No, no, absolutely not. We want our students to know that we care about them. We’re here to support you and we want them to know that they don’t have to feel ashamed or wrong for having these thoughts.”

Having this job isn’t easy, and it’s also essential for Labastida to take time for herself.  

“In order for us to be able to help our students and be here, and I’m not just talking about physically, but be here mentally and emotionally and physically we have to take care of ourselves,” she said.

For Labastida to stay mentally and physically healthy she needs to get good sleep, stay hydrated and eat well. 

“It’s a smoothie every morning, I like to take my vitamins for the day. I eat small snacks, string cheese, almonds, or cashews, and I have a small meal for lunch. For me that’s what it takes for me to be on point,” she said.

“It’s very important to care, but to care I have to also remain objective,” she said. “There’s a great saying, ‘to weep with one eye.’” Labastida explained the importance of being empathetic to students but still be sure to remain professional.

She also emphasized the importance of collaborating with colleagues and being open to help from other professionals. 

“Those are the things when you think of a healthy person you think of mind, body, and spirit,” she said. “That’s the triangle, and that’s what helps us be well balanced and rounded.”

Working in her field isn’t always easy, but with the right mindset and people around her, Labastida can do anything.

“We can’t have a fixed perspective on life. My motto is ‘I’m a lifelong learner,’” she said. “I have a growth mindset and a lot of you guys do as well and I love it.”