Congress grapples with how to address kids’ mental health crisis

WASHINGTON D.C. — Kids across America are experiencing a mental health crisis, according to Congress. Lawmakers are hearing from experts in order help our children.

Thursday on Capitol Hill, there was a heart-breaking moment as the superintendent of Tacoma, Washington, schools recounted the challenges his students are facing.

“In the last year, our students Tony, Angel, Brielle, Isaiah, Marco, DJ, Wyatt, Xavier, Larry and Iona have been shot in our community,” Dr. Joshua Garcia said. “Our students have to survive human trafficking, battle homelessness, drug abuse, physical and mental abuse and social media harassment and bullying.”

These are also the challenges of students across the country.

“Like you and I are, students are being bombarded with images of news events, daily experiences of trauma and hate and stress,” Garcia said. “Unlike us, they are doing this without fully developed brains.”

This hearing comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says two out of five American teens felt persistently sad or hopeless, and one out of five has seriously considered suicide.

The U.S. surgeon general told lawmakers the main drivers here are social media and the increase in loneliness and isolation.

“Our kids can’t afford to wait longer for us to address the youth mental health crisis,” Vice Admiral Vivek Murthy said. “We have to expand our efforts to ensure every child has access to high quality, affordable, culturally competent mental health care.”

While Democrats and Republicans might disagree on the specifics of how Congress can help, both parties agree everyone has to work together to solve this.

“We know that it’s not easy,” Dr. Garcia added. “There are egos, turf battles and frustrations, however, we are truly better together. We may not be united on everything, but our future is with us now and we must be united in our commitment to serving youth first.”

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