According to a report from the CDC from 2021, the mental health of U.S. teenagers was deteriorating in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that was only made worse by the pandemic. The report showed that 29% of high school students experienced poor mental health in the 30 days before the survey was taken. More than 1 in 5 (22%) students seriously considered attempting suicide. A new initiative formed in a partnership between the Schultz Family Foundation, Pinterest, governors from 11 states, the US Surgeon General and organizations such as the National Council on Mental Wellness and AmeriCorps hopes to address the gaps among young people facing health challenges mental and theirs. ability to access resources for care.
The program, called the Youth Mental Health Corps, begins this month and will place hundreds of trained mental health workers (18 to 24) directly in schools and community organizations, hoping to address both sides of the equation by providing young people with mental health care, equipping young people who are interested in mental health work with training and hands-on experience.
Funded by both the Schultz Family Foundation and Pinterest, the program will provide training and credentials at no cost to Corps members. It’s a unique move for Pinterest among social media platforms, many of which studies show actively contribute to negative mental health impacts, such as anxiety and depression, among young people.
Wanji Walcott, Head of Legal and Business Affairs said in a statement to Teen VogueAccording to a study from UC Berkeley, just 10 minutes a day of inspiring content on Pinterest helps Gen Z college students deal with negative conditions, such as burnout and stress. We take this responsibility seriously and continue to invest heavily in ways we can support young people’s mental health. The partnership with the Youth Mental Health Corps, Walcott said, is an example of Pinterest’s commitment to the well-being of its users.
Nelly Grosso, a student and mental health worker, has provided care to her fellow students for the past two years through the organization Colorado Youth For A Change, a group that is a grantee of the Youth Mental Health Corps. Grosso says her work as a peer mentor is informed by her experiences as a first-generation Latina immigrant to the United States. I have an opportunity to share the amount of strength and success that can come from the first generation community because the stress we have is affecting our mental health causing us anxiety and causing depression. We all come from a variety of different traumas related to having undocumented parents or the stress of navigating things on our own or being an interpreter at a young age, Grosso said. Teen Vogue.
The students Grosso works with are mostly immigrants from a variety of Latin American countries, and she says the biggest factors affecting their mental health are systemic and structural. The biggest barrier they have now is trying to navigate an entire country and an entire education system, culture, way of thinking, while also learning English. And many of my students feel the pressure to succeed, which has really affected their mental health. It makes sense, after all, because they come from really tough backgrounds, Grosso said.
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Image Source : www.teenvogue.com
