May Is Mental Health Awareness Month, And Girls Like Me Deserve To Be Seen.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to bring attention to the importance of mental health and wellness to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness. Our intern, Chloe, wrote a blog post about mental health in young girls.

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I’m 17 and homeschooled, and while I may not sit in crowded classrooms or roam busy school hallways, I see what’s happening to girls my age. Through conversations, online spaces, group chats, and friendships, I’ve come to understand something that deserves way more attention: the quiet, personal battles that so many teenage girls face when it comes to mental health.

I’ve watched girls my age wrestle with anxiety, burnout, depression, and self-doubt, at times with a formal diagnosis, but oftentimes without one. When no one names what you’re going through, it becomes easy to believe that maybe it’s just you. Perhaps you’re just “too sensitive.” Maybe you’re not trying hard enough. But I want to stress that that’s not true.

What We Don’t Always See

Mental health struggles aren’t always obvious. They may not look like someone crying or staying in bed all day. Sometimes, they look like a perfectly crafted Instagram post, a straight-A report card, or a girl who’s always “fine.” I’ve seen that kind of quiet pain in people I know, high-functioning on the outside but hurting on the inside.

When you’re young, especially if you’re a girl, there’s this pressure to just keep it together. To be “mature,” to be helpful, not to take up too much space with your feelings. But the truth is, girls are breaking under the weight of all the things they’re expected to carry without anyone noticing.

The Invisible Stuff Is Still Real

A lot of girls I know are dealing with symptoms that go completely overlooked. Panic attacks are written off as being “overly dramatic.” Emotional exhaustion is mistaken for laziness. Even neurodivergent traits are overlooked or misunderstood because they don’t fit the “typical” signs.

They learn to mask their pain. To overachieve. Smile when they’re crumbling. And in a world that rewards that kind of quiet survival, it’s easy for their pain to go unseen and be ignored.

What Needs to Change

We need more than awareness. We need action.

We need adults who don’t assume girls are fine just because they’re functioning. We need schools and communities (yes, even online ones) that take teen mental health seriously, even if someone doesn’t have all the right words to express how they feel. We need families who ask, “How are you really?” and listen.

We also need to understand that not everyone will have a formal diagnosis. Not every girl has access to a doctor or therapist or will even feel safe asking for help, but that doesn’t make what they’re going through any less valid.

You Deserve Support Before You Shatter

If there’s one thing you take away from this, please know struggling in silence doesn’t make you weak, and asking for help doesn’t make you a burden. You shouldn’t have to reach a breaking point to be taken seriously.

In the future, I hope we stop waiting for girls to fall apart before we believe them and stop dismissing their pain because they “look fine.” Let’s stop falsely equating strength with silence.

Let’s create a world where girls feel safe enough to be honest. Where they don’t have to hide. Where their mental health matters, loudly, clearly, and always.

If you’re still figuring it out, that’s okay. So are the rest of us.

Written by: Chloe Austin

Published on: May 27, 2025