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EDITORIAL: Confronting the mental health crisis among our young people

Santa Cruz Sentinel - 12/26/2021

Dec. 26—As we approach 2022, students remain out on winter break before returning to schools. What many will bring back with them is renewed anxiety over whether schools will continue to offer in-person learning.

For most UC students, including UC Santa Cruz, instruction in the first two weeks of the next session will be offered remotely, allowing campuses to bring COVID-19 testing up to date.

For K-12 students, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that 6 million free in-home rapid tests will be sent to California schools and partner groups —enough, he said, so that all K-12 students can be checked before returning to the classroom after the holidays.

What government cannot fix, however, is the marked increases in mental and emotional issues being experienced by students of all ages.

Across the U.S., college campus counseling services reported seeing significantly more students reporting struggles with anxiety and depression and other mental/emotional problems. These were issues before the pandemic; the ongoing surge from the omicron COVID-19 variant will only exacerbate the problems.

Mental health is now the leading cause of hospitalization of children younger than 18 in California. Mirroring a national trend, 45% of California youth between the ages of 12 and 17 report having recently struggled with mental health issues, with nearly a third of them experiencing serious psychological distress that could interfere with their academic and social functioning, according to a recent report by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

In many California school districts, absenteeism remains high. More kids are experiencing suicidal thoughts, or seem withdrawn or unduly on edge. Behavioral problems also are increasing, including on-campus fights such as the one that cost an Aptos High School student his life at the start of the school year.

And, as with college students, the psychological burdens experienced by our young people have been on a troubling slope downward for years. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy noted earlier this month that from 2009 to 2019, the proportion of high school students reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness increased by 40%, and reporting suicidal thoughts by nearly as much.

The pandemic, with enforced social isolation and fears of contracting COVID-19, has just made things worse, Murthy said, with suicide attempts by girls in the U.S. up by 51% in 2021, compared to the same period just two years before.

The problem is especially acute among Black, Latino and students from poorer families, often within communities under extra stresses during the pandemic.

It's not as if schools or state government are ignoring the staggering problems. Newsom and the state Legislature invested $4.4 billion in the 2021-22 state budget into improving the state's youth behavioral health programs. State health officials they are building a system where all children and youth up to age 25 are routinely screened, supported and provided services for emerging and existing mental health needs. Hiring qualified counselors so far has been problematic, though. Meanwhile, many families find it nearly impossible to even get an appointment with a qualified therapist or psychiatrist.

There's no one-size-fits-all, easy fix for what kids are experiencing.

One area to start is with organized community efforts to educate parents and other adults in children's lives about how to recognize the signs of depression and anxiety and what resources are available to help kids. Schools can set up peer groups, training students to look out for signs of emotional trouble and providing companionship for kids who are hurting or feel they're alone. Murthy urges parents to pay attention to and talk with their kids, and for social-media companies to institute more safeguards.

And, yes, schools need to stay open for in-person learning, but the commitment to provide emotional and social support needs to be community-wide, providing caring and empathetic relationships with hurting young people and working to ensure they're connected to their families, schools and community.

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(c)2021 the Santa Cruz Sentinel (Scotts Valley, Calif.)

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