Mental Health of Youth

When I first started in a leadership position 11 years ago at the Anglo-American School of Moscow, I had the role of Assistant Principal/IB Coordinator. In working with HS students in this capacity I was astonished at the number of students, boys and girls, who suffered from anxiety, depression, suicide and suicidal ideations. As the years have passed the numbers seemed to have increased based upon my own recollections but after viewing a NESA (Near East Schools Association) Parent Webinar my thoughts were confirmed.

Sean Truman of Truman Group hosted this parent webinar and empirical evidence presented indicates more young people struggle with mental health issues now than 10 years ago. A US Data Sample in June 2020 surveyed 5400 young Americans. 41% reported adverse Mental Health concerns, 33% self reported anxiety/depression, 10% reported increased substance abuse and 10% reported considering suicide.

This is COVID times data and it is up from the previous year where an average of 7% self reported anxiety/depression in 2019 and suicidal ideation was reported at about 5%. COVID times it taking its toll.

Other data from the CDC (2019) which tracked suicide rates between 2007-2017 indicated that suicide of youth between 10-24 years increase 56% and suicide in youth aged 10-14 increased threefold.

Kind of depressing stuff for an initial blog but something I want to understand better to improve my craft as an educator. In the next blog I’ll address some more of these issues and what parents can do to help.