Invited Address 1 - Addressing the Mental Health Crisis Facing Youth: We Need to Respond Now to Promote the Growth of our Youth!
Friday, November 18, 2022
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM EST
Location: Broadway Ballroom, 6th Floor
Earn 1 CE Credit
Keywords: Disaster Mental Health, Public Health, Child and Adolescent Level of Familiarity: Moderate Recommended Readings: Protecting our Youth: The US Surgeon General’s Advisory (2021) https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-youth-mental-health-advisory.pdf Jones SE, Ethier KA, Hertz M, et al. Mental Health, Suicidality, and Connectedness Among High School Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic — Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey, United States, January–June 2021. MMWR Suppl 2022;71(Suppl-3):16–21. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7103a3 Mpofu JJ, Cooper AC, Ashley C, et al. Perceived Racism and Demographic, Mental Health, and Behavioral Characteristics Among High School Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic — Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey, United States, January–June 2021. MMWR Suppl 2022;71(Suppl-3):22–27. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7103a4external icon
Program Director, Terrorism and Disaster Program at NCCTS UCLA School of Medicine and Duke University Los Angeles, California
At the end of 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office released an advisory report regarding the urgent mental health crisis facing youth, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March of this year, the CDC also released new data shining additional light on the mental health consequences of the pandemic on youth disproportionately. Specifically, more than 140,000 U.S. youth have lost a primary or secondary caregiver due to the pandemic and there has been a significant rise in emergency room visits for suspected suicide attempts, especially for adolescent girls. Youth and their families have also experienced additional adversities including abuse; financial, home, and food insecurities; missed milestones/rites of passage; other community traumas (disasters, violence, hate), and lost time with peers in school, extracurricular activities, and cultural/religious activities. Additionally, the pandemic has shone a spotlight on discrimination, racism, and health disparities in the U.S. These reports recognize that mental health is an essential part of a youth’s overall health and that we need to act now to positively shape our youth’s development. This presentation will review key resources that educate and empower families to support their children and how we need to enhance youth’s connectedness at school. A public behavioral health approach will be discussed on how to identify and treat youth based on their current need for service using a DEI lens. The presentation will review different trauma and grief informed evidence-based interventions that can be used for different developmental levels and for different child serving systems. Finally, this presentation will also address the toll the pandemic has had on our workforce and ways to enhance provider wellness and mitigate secondary traumatic stress.
Outline: - Review the mental health consequences of COVID-19 on youth - Discuss a public behavioral health approach for addressing the long-term impact of COVID - Identify resources that can assist providers and the families they serve to empower youth impacted by the pandemic - Identify the impact of COVID on the workforce and identify resources to enhance provider wellness
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the session, the learner will be able to:
Name at least two action steps to address ways to enhance a youth's mental health.
Name three trauma and grief informed evidence based interventions for youth.
Describe how to create a PRN coping plan to enhance my wellness.
Long-term Goal: Participants will be able to describe the elements for implementing a child and adolescent public behavioral health approach for addressing the mental health impacts of COVID-19.