Social media page aimed at North Brunswick High School staff and students requested to be removed by administrators

BRUNSWICK COUNTY (WWAY) — With mental health awareness becoming a high priority for adolescence, a social media page about a Brunswick County school could play a part in making it worse for some.

An Instagram page titled “NBHS Confession” takes anonymous messages and posts them online. The messages can often contain sexual or mean-spirited comments about staff and students. With studies showing a small link between bullying and suicide, mental health is extremely important.

“Mental health being a topic of forefront of conversation, it’s very helpful to really have the focus on suicide awareness because that is a part of mental health, and it is more common than we would want it to be,” said Amanda Ronne, Executive Director of Wilmington Health Access for Teens.

Ronne could not comment on the page itself but did say peer-to-peer insults are not beneficial to someone already in a bad head space. Especially with September being Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

“It can be unfortunately really common for peers to insult one another and a go to insult could be something about harming themselves or ending their life,” said Ronne.

Ronne says there are signs and symptoms parents can look for if your child is considering suicide.

“Changes in eating, changes in sleeping, increased isolation and then I always like to provide the other side of things is, thinking of suicide is a very private thought and a very shameful thought unfortunately. Which can lead to those changes not being very present and really visible for care givers to see,” Ronne said.

Brunswick County Schools issued a statement regarding the social media page and their awareness of it.

“District Administrators are aware of the anonymous social media page for North Brunswick High School. It is the practice of our school principals and staff members to educate students on the dangers and negative impacts pages such as these can have on school morale. Our top priority is to provide our students with an environment that is safe, conducive to learning, and free of bullying or harassment. District administrators have contacted Instagram to request that this page be removed from the platform,” said a Brunswick County Schools Spokesman.