*Registration payment includes Credit Cards and Interfund Transfers ONLY.
teens, state, mental health
While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted critical trends in mental health among both adults and adolescents, bringing unprecedented attention to the accessibility of care, rates of these challenges among adolescents have actually been rising for over a decade. Among Charlotte high school students in 2021, 43% reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks, to the point of disengaging from normal activities, compared to 29% in 2013 (CDC YRBS). Among adolescent females across the U.S., 1 in 3 seriously considered attempting suicide in 2021, up nearly 60% from 2011. Adolescence itself is a time of rapid growth, both physical and emotional. In more recent years, navigating the challenges of “typical” adolescent development has been complicated by a host of new environmental factors. For example, in 2021 approximately 75% of Charlotte teens reported spending 3 or more hours a day on screen time, not counting schoolwork, and the percentage who reported their teachers cared about them and gave them encouragement decreased from 52% in 2011 to 39%. Despite these trends, utilization of care remains low among adolescents. Additional strategies to engage teens and their families in supportive services are needed across both adolescent-serving professionals and the natural supports in their daily lives. Through this lunch and learn, participants will explore trends in adolescent mental health over the past decade, what factors may be impacting the rise in concerns, and how they can help to create supportive environments and increase access to care
Speaker:
Betsy Thompson M.Ed, LCMHC
