Way to go! Great Neck student raises mental health awareness
Anushka Gupta. Credit: Great Neck Public Schools
A Great Neck North High School student has been named to a national committee for her efforts reducing the stigma of mental health disorders.
Anushka Gupta, a senior, was one of two high schoolers nationwide selected to the Student Advisory Committee for Active Minds, a nonprofit organization that supports mental health awareness and education.
Gupta was chosen for her efforts as a co-founder and co-president of her school's Active Minds Chapter, which she launched in 2018 with classmates Liel Ezroni and Stephanie Kim. She has also spearheaded initiatives including mental health presentations for middle-schoolers and a program in which students write positive messages in chalk in front of the school during midterms week.
Gupta was inspired to get involved in mental health awareness after she was diagnosed in the eighth-grade with an autoimmune disease with neuropsychiatric symptoms.
"I felt that I could never really speak up about what was happening," said Gupta, 17, adding that she wanted to remind people "it's OK to not always be OK."
Since joining the committee, Gupta has written an article on the importance of telehealth for the Active Minds blog and contributed to a video supporting mental health legislation and funding through Speak Your Mind, a national campaign.
She is also president of her school's Bioethics Club and vice president of the Neuroscience Club.
— MICHAEL R. EBERT
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
