By Kobe Detvongsa ’26
42.7% of teenagers have been reported to have a mental health problem, and they need our help (“Mental Health Problems in Teens Investigated by U.S. Child Welfare Agencies”). Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds (World Health Organization). Teenagers and adults have not taken teenagers’ mental health seriously for a long time. Our current mental health support systems have not helped as much as they should. We need to raise awareness of this immediately! We need to create better mental health support systems for teenagers to decrease harmful statistics relating to teenagers by creating a more welcoming environment, recognizing that their mental health matters, and ensuring that teenagers feel safe and are able to open up (National Library of Medicine).
There are plenty of reasons our teenagers and young people need us. It provides teenagers a sense of comfort and the rest of us with gratitude and creates a better future for all of us. It solves major issues and creates solutions for different problems and a variety of future issues. In an article written by Anna Soggiu, she explains that the percentage of young people struggling with mental health is rapidly increasing. She states the following, “Meanwhile, the percentage of young people struggling with mental health issues is also growing.” . She continues to talk about the following reasons, which were the low rates of unemployment and much more in depth causes. The second piece of information to show that these teens and young people need our help is shown in another article written by “Adolescent Wellness Academy,” which states the following: “”Cases of major depression among teens ages sixteen and seventeen rose by an overwhelming 69%” (“Teen Mental Health Statistics | Mental Health Treatment Center”). It shows these young people really do need our help. They need to be able to reach out to somebody.
The negative effects and percentages keep rising among teenagers. The effects of our actions and help can create a bigger cause and solution. We need to be welcoming and have open arms to these teenagers and young people. It gives teenagers a sense of direction. They would be able to solve many different types of future problems. Ascend Behavioral Health wrote an amazing article about the effects and solutions it provides. In the article “The Importance of Mental Health Counseling for Teenagers,” they continue to give us plenty of solutions for teens that come from addressing their problems and getting help. They state that teens will learn how to gain better coping skills, learn how to address the direct root of their problems, strengthen their mental health wellbeing, and lastly, learn how to reach out for help. This shows that the effects and solutions that come with helping teens provide them independence and a solution to a majority of their problems. With more independence comes less problems and less services needed in the future.
If we help them now, they will not need our help as much in the future. It’s not that difficult to help teenagers and young adults. In the article “Four things you can do to support your teen’s mental health,” written by “Unicef,” they provide us 4 ways to help our teenagers and young adults. These methods include things like encouraging teenagers to share their feelings, taking the time out of your day to support them, work through simple and difficult problems together, and caring for both of you guys. Unicef goes on to state, ”It is important to show that you love and support them, that you can help them navigate tough times and that you are always there for them.”
Everybody’s mental health matters, and being in a great mental state can rub off on your teenager or young adult. Provide them with welcoming services and be there when they need you most. Another great article is “Protecting Youth Mental Health” written by the National Library of Medicine. This article provides a ton of ways for different groups of people to provide assistance towards youth mental health. It gives advice to young people, family members, school districts, and much more on how to help teens and young adults. It states quotes like, ”Families and caregivers play a critical role in providing the safe, stable, and nurturing environments and relationships young people need to thrive.” It provides reasoning on why their health matters. We need to be there for them and this is the first step in how we can provide the greatest help we could.
Ignoring mental health should be the last thing we do. The reason teens’ mental health isn’t being recognized and acknowledged is due to the fact that it can be expensive sometimes, and feel like the groups and help provided are not welcoming. In the article “Here’s Why Mental Healthcare Is So Unaffordable & How COVID-19 Might Help Change This,” written by Manoj Kanagaraj, they go on to state why mental health has been so unaffordable. In this article, Kanagaraj states the following, “Despite over 90% of general healthcare services being billed through insurance plans, an estimated 45% of psychiatrists do not accept any form of insurance, and a much larger proportion accept only a very limited set of plans, making it extremely difficult for patients to find suitable, in-network referrals.”. This gives reasons for parents and teens to avoid therapists and psychiatrists due to the expenses. As it may seem intimidating to look at the prices, it is professional help and prices are still developing.
Although it may seem like the only option to get a therapist or a psychiatrist, it isn’t. There’s help all around us. The help you can freely reach out to is your peers, family, and many more. All you have to do is speak up, find someone willing to help and speak to you, and have a conversation with them. Make sure to continuously check on each other after. There’s help everywhere we go; it just takes a simple word and hand to help. Expenses should not affect us reaching out for help in any way. Be a helping hand or reach out for help, we all need a support system and helping hand.
We need to secure the fact that depression rates will no longer rise and reach out to these teens to help. Helping them comes with great effects such as new coping mechanisms and how to address the root cause of problems. They create new solutions they wouldn’t have had if they didn’t reach out as teenagers. Welcoming teenagers and young adults with open arms and talking to them has a great effect. It may seem minor and unimportant to check up on your teenager, but it goes a long way. We need to create better mental health support systems for teenagers to decrease harmful statistics relating to teenagers by creating a more welcoming environment, recognizing that their mental health matters, and ensuring that teenagers feel safe and are able to open up (National Library of Medicine). We need to help these developing teenagers. They need our help and guidance, we need to decrease the number of teenagers with mental health disorders. Please take action and help these developing adults and teenagers!
Works Cited
“The Importance of Mental Health Counseling for Teenagers.” Ascend Behavioral Health, 6 March 2023. Accessed 2 May 2024.
“Mental Health Problems in Teens Investigated by U.S. Child Welfare Agencies.” Science Direct, May 2013. Accessed 1 May 2024.
National Library of Medicine. “Protecting Youth Mental Health.” National Library of Medicine, US Department of Health and Human Services, 2021. Accessed 29 April 2024.
Soggiu, Anna. “School`s out with fever: service provider perspectives of youth with mental health struggles.” Taylor & Francis Online, 26 July 2019. Accessed 1 May 2024.
“Teen Mental Health Statistics | Mental Health Treatment Center.” Adolescent Wellness Academy, 2019. Accessed 30 April 2024.
Unicef. “Four things you can do to support your teen’s mental health.” Unicef. Accessed 29 April 2024.
World Health Organization. “Mental health of adolescents.” World Health Organization (WHO), 17 November 2021. Accessed 9 May 2024.
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