AMHERST, N.Y. — It's hard enough being a teenager with the pressures of family, school and friends, among other stressors.

Adding to the anxiety is the way the world's been upended by the pandemic. It's hitting many kids hard.

A group of students at Amherst High School noticed a problem and decided to do something about it. 

"I saw that students were struggling with Zoom and just being teenagers in a pandemic," said student Rebekah Grande.

Grande is a junior at Amherst. Last school year when kids many kids were learning from home or only in the building part-time, she found herself facing the same kinds of mental health issues that many of her peers also deal with, made worse by feelings the isolation during the pandemic.

"I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression and I understood where the student body was at the moment because I was also struggling myself," Grande said. "So I wanted to do something that I knew would be helpful to others."

She organized a mental health awareness committee. What started as just a few students, has now grown to more than 40. 

"It’s hard to start the conversation and you want to be cognizant of how people feel and sometimes you don’t know what the right words are to say to someone who’s struggling," said senior Hannah Gabelnick. 

They’ve hosted several mental health awareness weeks, coffee talks, a guide with resources of where to turn for help and even a virtual lounge for students’ self-care.

"I heard conversations talking about mental health and talking about their struggles and talking about the stress," said sophomore Samantha Jay. "I feel like more people went to their teachers if they needed help or went to their counselors. 

Social workers at the school say they’ve seen the effects the pandemic has had on many kids. 

"There’s definitely been an increase in family stress, an increase in the inability to just cope with situations, to be able to manage the stress, to deal with things that are different or uncomfortable or awkward," said Daniela Wolfe, a social worker at the school.

The school has put an emphasis on trusted relationships kids have with their teachers and counseling staff, also offering connections to help outside the school walls. And the efforts of the mental health committee, the students themselves, have created an open dialogue.

"We saw people we knew were struggling were coming to our coffee to talks or coming to and participating in our different mental health awareness weeks," said Grande. "So it was really inspiring to see how just a little thing we put together could help make a positive impact."

Amherst's Mental Health awareness club has also raised money for Crisis Services, and they plan to have more events and activities later this year. 

Crisis Services Community Relations Director Olivia Retallack says the Amherst group really shows the benefit of having a peer-led and peer-run effort.

"We certainly want to see students reaching out to their trusted adults, and so we want to make sure that we highlight those individuals within a school district," said Retallack. "But the student body over at Amherst is the perfect example of students saying we've got to cut down barriers, we've got to talk about these things."

Retallack hopes Amherst can serve as a model for other school districts across Western New York.