CDC reports slight improvement in student mental health nationwide

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — Today is the first day of school for some districts in our region, including the Snoqualmie Valley School District. For students, this is more than the start of class. It’s also a return to a mental health support system.

This week, 500 new freshmen packed into the Mount Si High School gym, launching their future as Wildcats. There was excitement and apprehension.

“Knowing that everyone else is kind of on the same page. Everyone else is also feeling pretty nervous about going to a new school and like meeting new people, starting new things,” Senior Hannah Chen advised the new students. “But there’s also a lot of people who are just here to root for you, and you can always ask for help.”

Asking for help might be as simple as finding a classroom in the sweeping building, but students can also receive deeper help.

“We also have a school psychologist. She’s great to go see, and I feel like there’s a lot of teachers that are just willing to help,” said Senior Ally Hetzel. “I’ve eaten lunch with some of my teachers when I’ve been having stressful times, and it definitely makes a difference knowing that you have a support system here at Mount Si.”

A recent Centers for Disease Control youth survey found mental health remains a public health crisis, but there are glimmers of hope. The survey found in 2023, 40% of high school students reported a persistent feeling of sadness or hopelessness, which is a slight improvement from 42% in the 2021 survey.

There was also a decrease in the number of girls feeling depressive symptoms, falling from 57% to 53%. Those who seriously considered attempting suicide fell from 30% to 27%. Hispanic students who felt persistently sad or hopeless fell from 46% to 42%, and those who experienced poor mental health dropped from 30% to 26%.

There were also decreases in the percentage of Black students who attempted suicide, from 14% to 10%.

Dr. Kathleen Ethier is the CDC’sDirector of the Division of Adolescent and School Health. She called the changes positive movement. “These are relatively small findings, but they’re significant,” Ethier said. “They suggest to us that we may be moving in a positive direction. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re feeling hopeful.”

The survey also looked at school connectedness, with 55% of students saying they feel close to people at school. Researchers say that’s key to better mental health.

“When schools are safe and supportive, mental health gets better,” Ethier said. “So when you have all of your people in one place – 95% of young people are in school six hours a day – it is an optimal place to be able to make some changes in their experience of their daily life that supports them and improves their mental health.”

“We have, you know, our great counseling team and all that stuff, but I also have a lot of good, for me, especially sports and clubs,” said Mount Si senior Logan Green. “They’re a great way to just relax and just be with friends and just chillax.”

Mount Si Principal Deb Hay said student well-being and fostering a sense of belonging are in the district’s strategic plan.

“When I was hired, one of the things I looked for was what were those student experiences and how were students feeling as they were experiencing their school, day in and day out,” Hay said. “So having the place for them to go to, but also figuring out what it is that happens for them day to day. What does it feel like for them to walk through the hallway?”

The CDC survey also found areas of growing concern in schools. Nine percent of students said they’d been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property. That’s up from 7% in 2021. There was also a jump in the percentage of students who were bullied at school, from 15% to 19%. Nearly 30% of LGBTQ+ students were bullied at school, and nearly two in 10 missed school because of safety concerns.

Ethier says research has shown that making schools safer for LGBTQ+ students improves the safety of all students. They are working to reduce the stigma around mental health.

“We know that mental health literacy, which is understanding your emotions, knowing about your mental health, the benefit of that is being more likely to ask for help,” Ethier said. “So as we’ve reduced stigma, as we’ve given young people the language they need to describe their feelings, to describe their mental health, that can only lead to positive changes in the sense that they’re understanding but also their ability to find the resources they need.”