By Maria Clara Lacerda and Brooke Crocker
As the number of bicultural students enrolled at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) rises, growing awareness of challenges faced by Brazilian immigrants is prompting school administrators to consider the mental health needs of this population.
According to Principal Dingledy, as of 2019, a quarter of the student body consists of bicultural students who speak a home language other than English. School adjustment counselor Amy Lilavois emphasized the difficulty of providing mental health support to Brazillian students. “You cannot make a comparison between having somebody who speaks your language and understands your culture versus somebody who doesn’t and has to have that [interpreter] in there,” she said.
Immigrant students often experience culture shock, which can be accompanied by mental health repercussions such as depression and anxiety.
In addition to dealing with the challenges of leaving their lives behind, some immigrant students also struggle with parents who are not particularly sensitive to their mental health.
Senior Amanda Moraes said, “My parents and I were having a huge argument which led to [me having] a panic attack. I remember my father telling my mom that I was just being dramatic and crying that hard to get out of talking to them. Little comments like that, along with the idea that poor mental health is just a person’s inability to ‘accept responsibility’ or an excuse for things, worsen a person’s mental health.”
Larissa Oliveira, a senior who moved to the island when she was five years old, said that along with the challenges that accompany trying to acclimate to a new culture, immigrant students sometimes assume a degree of financial, cultural, and emotional responsibility for their parents.
“For me, moving here meant that I became independent faster,” said Larissa. “Because of the language barrier immigrant parents have, you have to do things that [they] have to do.”
Many of these teenagers also navigate applying to college and secondary education options without parental aid.
Amanda said, “I’ve been figuring out this college thing all alone. [My parents] don’t have any advice to give me about which school is the best, on what I should study, nothing like that. So it’s very stressful because all they do is question me on the things I haven’t done.”
The cultural and language barriers between Brazilian and American students can also create a disconnect between immigrant students and other students. Sophomore Joao Victor Oliveira, who moved to the United States from Brazil when he was in 8th grade, said, “We don’t talk to the Americans and they don’t talk to us. It’s nobody’s fault, a lot of the time there is just a language barrier and we can’t really relate to one another, but maybe the school can do something to help with that.”
The question of adding more programming and mental health support for Brazilian students largely comes down to funding. “We need the school committee and our towns to look at our budget [to see if it’s] in the best interests of our students’ social and emotional mental health,” said Amy Lilavois.
MVRHS is looking to hire a counselor who speaks Portuguese to provide mental health support for Brazilian students. Principal Sara Dingledy, said, “We need to make sure, at the very least, that mental and social health services are offered in their native language. From what I’ve learned, there is a great level of trauma that accompanies leaving your native country, and as a school we should help with that.”