Aspen High School junior Hallie Zilberman is using her platform, Her Mind Matters, to advocate for more open conversations about mental health struggles among teenage girls.
Courtesy of Hallie Zilberman
Hallie Zilberman, a junior at Aspen High School, wants teenage girls and their parents to have open conversations about mental health.
Zilberman founded Her Mind Matters as a teen-led movement aimed at helping teenage girls open up about their mental health struggles. Now, she’s hosting a meeting with parents about what their daughters might be going through and how to have meaningful conversations with and support them. The virtual meeting will take place from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13.
“A lot of people are struggling with really really big things,” she said. “I thought, if some of my closest friends are struggling, it must be the case for a lot of people.”
Zilberman surveyed 1,000 high school-aged girls across the country and 100 girls at Aspen High School. She found nationally, 64% of girls said they feel overwhelmed by stress and anxiety daily. At AHS, 73.5% of girls said they feel overwhelmed by stress and anxiety daily.
Nearly 49% of national respondents reported recent thoughts of self-harm, and 33.7% of AHS girls said the same, Zilberman found.
She is using Her Mind Matters as a platform for girls experiencing stress, anxiety and depression to promote positive messages and support for people who are struggling. She is also using it to highlight the data she gathered to show teenage girls they are not alone in their struggles.
But she also wants to facilitate conversations between teenage girls and the adults in their lives about their mental health struggles.
About 13% of the girls Zilberman surveyed at AHS said they have no one to talk to. Nationally, 31.5% of respondents said they have no one to talk to.
“I want to reduce the stigma as much as possible,” Zilberman said. “A lot of people go through these things silently … I want to make an impact and help parents feel more comfortable, kids feel more comfortable to talk about their struggles.”
A statewide survey conducted in 2023 among Aspen middle and high school students found an overall decrease in poor mental health, but the problem still persists.
In 2023, 20% of ASD students reported feeling sad or hopeless every day for two weeks or more in a row, compared to 40% in 2021, according to the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey data. The survey is conducted every two years to measure overall student wellness, which includes questions about substance use and mental health.
Survey results are often released the following year.
Zilberman hopes by encouraging open conversations between students and their parents, the students will feel safe to speak up when they are struggling. She also hopes parents can better understand how to support their children.
A virtual meeting link is available on AHS Principal Sarah Strassburger’s weekly newsletter, which is posted to the AHS website.