FEATURE
WWW.BENDSOURCE.COM / JUNE 2, 2022 / BEND’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
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Teenagers are experiencing the highest rates of hopelessness ever recorded. Local programs have been helpful, but barriers to mental health care remain By Jack Harvel
T
he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of a troubling survey on March 31, finding that 44% of high school students in the United States reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness over the past year in 2021. It’s the sharpest increase in youth hopelessness since the CDC began tracking the data, up from 37% in 2019, but the trend since 2004 is consistently toward poorer mental health among high schoolers. Feelings of sadness or hopelessness are most pronounced in young women (57%) and LGBT individuals (76%). The CDC narrowed down the myriad of reasons students feel more hopeless than ever into broad factors such as decreased socialization, physical and emotional abuse at home, financial stressors, loss of a caregiver, feeling a lack of belonging at school and unfiltered access to news. “I’m sure there are several causes there. The increased social media usage; there are lots of pressures put on young individuals—I have several teens that I’m working with now that are acutely aware of all of the social justice issues and issues that marginalized communities face, and experiencing that themselves, are very plugged into what is going on in the world,” said Amy Richardson, program supervisor for Deschutes County Behavioral Health’s Child, Family and Young Adult Outpatient program. CFYA is part of a patchwork of local services dedicated to treating teen mental health. Public health departments, schools and private programs are all seeking to address the increasing number of teens facing mental health crises. In a press release accompanying the survey, the CDC’s acting principal deputy director says research shows proper support systems can reverse these trends, but those services are stretched thin. Oregon has the fifth-highest rate of serious mental illness in the U.S., according to World Population Review. Mental Health America, a nonprofit mental health advocacy group, weighed prevalence of mental health and access to care: Oregon ranked last
for adults and 47th for youth. “I just know that there is a huge need for mental health services, and it feels like the need keeps growing. And we’re doing the best that we can to respond to it,” Richardson says.
The in-school approach to teen mental health
Fewer than half of the respondents to the CDC survey reported feeling close to people at school during the pandemic. As learning became digitized, students felt less connected to their peers when conferencing over Zoom. A Harvard Graduate School of Education survey found loneliness among students spiked more significantly than any other group. “There are many intentional actions taking place in schools every day that are really centered around student wellness, which is tied directly to a sense of belonging,” wrote Jenifer Hauth, Bend-La Pine Schools’ director of social, emotional and mental well-being, in an email.
Those actions can include anything from bus drivers personally greeting students, allowing for a wide range of clubs, teacher intervention and anti-bullying programs. Social and emotional support is only one facet of school counselors’ jobs, but they can often be a bridge to long-term care. In schools, long-term care can involve connecting students to school psychologists, or referrals to the district’s two school-based health centers. Every school in the district is staffed with at least two people trained in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, and all staff are trained in “Question, Persuade, Refer” suicide prevention training. “If they see a youth struggling in that arena they can intervene with the best practices in evidence-based ways,” said Caroline Suiter, Deschutes County’s suicide prevention coordinator. Training often gives teachers a better understanding of the warning signs associated with mental health crises. “One thing that we always talk about is that if you see a significant change, if a youth tends to operate one way… and then it shifts to the other side of the spectrum, that would be a warning sign.” Courtesy of the CDC
