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Going through puberty in your teenage years is hard on everyone. Every single kid is feeling some type of awkwardness in their body, anxiety, bouts of depression, etc.
Most of these feelings are not clinical mental health issues. Mental health is such an overused term it's borderline useless at this point. In so many cases, people are just describing the sensation of being alive with a human mind.
You probably leveled out in college because your hormones calmed down and you grew into your body. But you're not going to think that, because You're remembering from the mind of a hormonal teenager.
If kids are being raised in stable households, with decent diets, and ample time outdoors to get exercise and play sports, and if their family has good moral foundations, then we can examine if mental health is really an issue.
Parents need to do their part, too. People thinking that schools alone are responsible for these things are just wrong. People blame teachers for their kids' problems when they're sending a little demon to school. >

I didn't think this was an unpopular opinion, until I saw people disagreeing in the comments.
Society is so dynamic nowadays, it's changing faster and faster, and the current western school system is woefully inadequate.
During the industrial revolution, schools were standardised, and their purpose was to prepare young boys for jobs in factories and prepare young girls for homemaking. Nowadays it seems like their singular function is to prepare students to move on to college or university and that's it.
Unfortunately with higher education becoming so saturated, university degrees are becoming less and less valuable. Especially if you get something like communication, or gender studies.
I think the purpose of school should be to prepare children for life. Many people will say "that's the parents job", and it is  as well. But sadly, many children aren't lucky enough to have competent or caring parents. So I think teaching kids about mental health, and good mental hygiene practices can only be beneficial.
Especially in the environment of today. Teenagers are especially susceptible to negative self perception and depression, and this is magnified by social media and atomisation. The world we live in now has become a lot more detrimental to our mental health than it was 50 years ago. I struggle as an adult sometimes - it's even harder for teenagers that haven't built their whole identity yet.
By preparing children for the real world, by teaching them about mental health, teaching them how to handle money, apply for jobs,, take care of a house, raise kids if they want them, they would be far more equipped to deal with life. And in the long term, they'd likely put less strain on the healthcare system, have less debt and be better parents. Win, win, win! >

i definitely agree with this >

Thanks. Honestly I was surprised to read comments disagreeing with you.
The best counter-argument I could see was related to overworked teachers - which is an absolutely fair point.
In my opinion the entire education system needs to be overhauled and revamped. Part of that would be creating new jobs related to mental, physical and social health and then training up new staff specifically for that role. >

i was surprised as well and was expecting to take my post down.. guess not lol. 
that is a fair point, i don’t think it’s up to the teachers anyways. the school board were the ones that made all the rules. the counselors at my school (in my experience) did not help me much. they were more worried about my grades and what colleges i was going to, instead of my mental health. an actual therapist was too expensive and my parents couldn’t afford it for long >

In any struggling organisation, management is usually the culprit. As you say, the teachers aren't in a position to fix the problem; that's up to the board.
I didn't have much experience with counsellors during school, (I got into that in adulthood). Again though, the problem you had with the counsellor is rooted in how schools are evaluated for funding. Grades and the number of students going on to higher education are two of the main factors that decide how much funding a school will get. Because of that, the system tends to prioritise those 2 statistics over everything else.
Oh I totally understand what you mean with therapy. I left school at 17 and went straight into IT. So I was fortunate enough to be earning a reasonable wage with no debts, so I was able to make use of a private therapist when I needed it. However it would have still benefitted me a lot if my school had taught me how to look after my mental health, or offered free counselling. >

Mental health is and will always be a low priority item in society. It will remain that way until all other issues are resolved. >

Absolutely! Schools need to step up on including mental health and disabled rights in their teachings. 
Kids are not taught sufficiently and then when they are released into the world they're expected to magically know how to deal with it all. >

spot on! >

We have a long way to go away far as doing better with mental health problems.  A part of that is also helping teens realize that normal teen problems and emotions aren't an automatic sign of poor mental health. >

No. No, they don't. They need to prioritize education. >

If your mental health isn’t good, it doesn’t matter what you learn. >

exactly >

Teachers are not therapists. Councilors are not therapists. >

Actually, school counselors' education and certification is all psychology based.