Chicago’s youths yearn for adult support. Here’s what we can do.
Throughout the pandemic, we have seen an astonishing uptick in youths’ mental health concerns and a striking loss of mental health and wellness capacity in our city and state. Yet what we are seeing is not new. The impact of the pandemic has only compounded the consequences of an already broken youth mental health and wellness system in our city, state and country.
Thus, it is not surprising that youths who lost resources and support during the pandemic, on top of having a long experience of adversity, are coming alive as we exit the pandemic. And in doing so, they are embracing the world and each other in a quest to heal themselves and move into the future.
The success of youths in navigating these challenges is dependent on the world that we provide for them. In Chicago, this responsibility rests on our leaders’ foresight and capacity to develop the resources and support necessary for youths to advance their well-being.
Lakaya Knight, a youth leader for the racial justice organization Communities United, makes this critical point in her own Sunday op-ed: There is a powerful link between the healing powers of socializing with others and mental health.
For youths to function at their very best, they need at minimum:
Daytime activities that are engaging and stimulating. For most youths, this is their school. This may be a given for most young people, but our school systems often have struggled to help youths meet the many challenges they face today and to foster their optimum development.
Strong communities. Historical trauma and systemic racism have devastated many communities. Even so, most families function heroically and provide the important fundamentals for their children in the face of adversity. Yet many do not — that is on us.
Outlets. Music, physical activity and structured social interactions provide opportunities for brain health, which is key to mental health and wellness. As leaders, we have fallen short of our obligation to provide these basic resources.
Lastly, youths need a purpose. While all the above are essential for youths in Chicagoland, finding a higher purpose based on their lived experience is the mental health game changer. In our Chicagoland work, we are finding that youths such as Lakaya, who come to terms with their lived experience, identify a social justice concern and move to address those challenges through advocacy and action as they experience personal healing and work to heal their families and communities.
As the chair of the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Lurie Children’s Hospital, I am happy to be in partnership with Communities United as we seek to proactively respond to the growing youth mental health crisis. By rooting our efforts in the Healing Through
Justice model, an approach that centers the leadership of youths of color in developing healing-centered strategies for Black and brown youths, we are on the pathway to addressing youth wellness by centering youth leadership and organizing efforts rooted in justice.
I can see where Lakaya has a deep optimism, given Chicago’s many blessings, and her determination to make a difference. But she needs our help. We must see more partnerships between social justice organizations and corporations that seek to address the needs of our youth population and under-resourced communities.
As leaders, we need to understand what we need to do and step up to make Chicagoland a better place for our youths. The new year will open new opportunities to take on this challenge. The time is now.