All Our Children

The report from the CDC last week was heartbreaking. It details a tidal wave of treacherous trends among our youth: poor mental health, interpersonal violence, and suicidal thinking and behavior have increased for all young people in the past decade. In 2021, nearly 60% of teenage girls felt persistently sad or hopeless, and 20% reported experiences of sexual violence. The most vulnerable of all our youth are those at the margins, with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth showing even more alarming signs of distress and danger.?

Sadly, the news only confirmed what we have been tracking in real time at Mental Health America. Our National Prevention and Screening Program launched in 2014 and provides anonymous and free online mental health screening. Since 2020, use of the platform has risen dramatically. Currently, over 15,000 people each day visit the platform - more than half of whom are 24 or younger. Most of the time, they are coming to screen themselves for depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide.?

But do we really need the data to tell us? In recent years I’ve received all too many phone calls from friends, loved ones and co-workers about children in distress: a neighbor’s niece died by suicide, a friend’s daughter with anorexia, a colleague’s son with disabling anxiety. I imagine you have received these phone calls as well. Or perhaps the news has hit even closer to home.?

I think about my own daughters who are now 25 - a narrow escape from the generational “engulfment” of despair. I think about the many ways we try as parents to keep our children both safe and unafraid. What would I have said to my 15-year-old girls today about the dangers lurking in dark and digital corners??

This is personal, for all of us.

Childhood is hard enough, and it requires ingredients which have been in short supply:?

• safety and personal security: family economic and housing stability and freedom from violence and trauma,
• inclusion, acceptance, and positive social connection, which are critical to developing resilience and positive self-image;.?
• equitable access to whole-child healthcare, inclusive of mental healthcare;?
• and ultimately, a sense of purpose, belonging, and hope for the future, which are the foundations of mental well-being and fitness.

Fewer and fewer of our children are able to climb this ladder to hope.

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As discussed in this excellent article by Derek Thompson in The Atlantic asking the causal questions, we have no precise diagnosis for the cause of this public health crisis, but “the numbers are undeniable.”?

Many escalating risk factors are certain contributors: the lingering losses and disruptions of the pandemic, the reality of school and community violence; and the daily hazards of online social shaming and exclusion. Add to that, our children are part of a global generation in anger and fear over the failing health of their very planet. No wonder the news is bad.?

But this is not where the story ends. At Mental Health America, the organization which I am honored to lead, this is our moment to deepen our focus on the next generation.?

Founded in 1908 by Clifford Beers, a 34-year-old man with lived experience of mental illness, discrimination, and institutional abuse, our mission has always been led by the voice of lived experience and focused on the prevention of illness and harm and the promotion of health and well-being.?

We see solutions in action every day in the work of our 143 Affiliates across the country. Our Affiliates are meeting youth where they are - literally and figuratively. Through the provision of effective community-based, peer-involved services, they are leading the way in equitable access, early intervention, and crisis response for all young people. We also see solutions in the voices and actions of youth themselves who are innovating with new peer-to-peer supports, school programming, and digital interventions.?

Our vision is a future in which all youth have equitable opportunity to thrive with resilience, connection, and hope. To get there, we are acting quickly to scale what works, to embed equity in all that we do, and to move into the passenger seat as we welcome the leadership of the next generation.

After all, the future we're headed for belongs entirely to them.

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To learn more please visit: Mental Health America?

Click here to search for a Mental Health America Affiliate in your area.

If you are a young person concerned about your mental health, please visit our site to take an anonymous and free mental health test.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat?988lifeline.org.

You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.

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