The Lean on Me club focuses on Men’s mental and emotional health, and how to handle cope as high school students develop into young men.

The advisor for this club is cultural geography teacher Steven Neidert.

He chose to be the adviser for very personal reason. “Three years ago, one of my students took his own life, then another former student took his life last year.  These two tragic events affected me greatly and made me realize that something needed to be done to try and prevent this from occurring again,” Neidert said.

The goal of the club, according to Neidert is: “To bring support to our male population at Kennard-Dale who may be experiencing emotional issues, as well as to provide a safe area, too.”

Lean on Me typically meets on a bi-weekly basis. The next meeting date is determined at the end of every meeting, and Neidert puts it up on the poster outside of his room.

The group also hopes to announce meeting dates on KRAM during morning announcements.

“The club name was a group effort.  However, growing up in the 1980’s there was a great movie called Lean on Me, in which a principal helped out a struggling LA high school,” Neidert explained.

Planning for this club began back in October, with the club’s first meeting occuring in November. The first meeting had four attendees.

Since the club has me once in November and once in December with more attendees than the original meeting.

The group meets to discuss a number of things surrounding men’s mental health. The focus of the December 21 meeting was male role models in life that are not a father figure.

Responses to this included people ranging from religious figures to uncles.

In order for students to be comfortable with communicating how they are feeling in a group setting, Neidert says that he is going to build trust with the students by building stronger relationships with them.

“One of the ways I try to build a relationship with a student is just by getting to know them as a person.  Engaging in conversation with them about non-academic issues or concerns.  I also try to build a respectful environment with my students,” he said.

This idea to start this club came from Principal Heather Venne.

Venne said that the mental health of males has been an underlying issue for quite some time now, and that it is time to address it.

Neidert says: “I’m thankful for administrations support on this.”

Male anxiety continues to be prevalent in today’s society as a whole, not just within the school.

One in five men experiences anxiety at some point in their life, according to Beyond Blue.

Our school also runs a number of other mental health support clubs, including Brave Girls, as well as five other anxiety groups, and narcotics anonymous.