A big help for teen mental health
A major entertainment studio says it will feature plotlines about mental health in teen-targeted shows. Celebrity athletes say they will help destigmatize talk about mental health among young people. A Los Angeles nonprofit is expanding training for professional youth mentors.
Big technology and media companies, local groups, youth leaders, basketball players and educators are pledging to come together in response to the U.S. surgeon general’s public health advisory in December warning of an urgent need to address a national youth crisis.
During a visit to Los Angeles on Tuesday for a conference, Surgeon Gen. Dr. Vivek Murthy unveiled a list of at least 30 entities with promising intentions.
“What led to the crisis of youth mental health was complex,” Murthy said, “and it was going to require many different sectors to pull together — from educational institutions to policymakers to foundations to technology companies and many more.
“It’s a first step, though, of many that we have to take,” he added, to address higher suicide rates, untreated mental disorders and anxiety and stress made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda French Gates “to advance social progress,” will work to expand access to mental health care for young people of color as well as to LGTBQ youths and their families.
Additionally, the Black Sheep Agency will design a “youth-centered branded campaign” to destigmatize conversations around mental health; the Miami Heat will deploy basketball players to the same end.
“When I talk to young people and I ask them, ‘Why don’t you feel comfortable telling somebody that you’re feeling down?’ they say, ‘Well, you know, I just don’t want people to think that I’m broken in some way. I don’t want them to think something’s wrong with me,’ ” Murthy said.
That stigma must be overcome, he added.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation will gather data on mental health to better inform policy, while the Healthy Gamer Foundation has pledged to develop products that promote positive online behavior.
TV network the CW has committed to addressing the issue in its shows, “which is going to be very powerful to help change the narrative around mental health for young people,” Murthy said.
Locally, the California Endowment is committing $1 million in new funding to a “youth mental health campaign and coalition building,” and Friends of the Children-Los Angeles is expanding its training and clinical support for professional youth mentors.
Some of these contributions are new or in the works, while some represent ongoing efforts that Murthy wants to encourage to continue and expand.
Funding for the efforts can be difficult to quantify. In some instances, the contribution is an enhanced focus using existing resources, although Vistria Group, an investment firm, has pledged $250 million to fund providers of youth mental health services.