According to the Surgeon General of the United States, we’re currently in the midst of a youth mental health crisis. The crisis primarily affects youth, teens, and young adults from age 10-24. The warnings about a crisis in youth mental health began in the late 2010s, as rates of depression and suicidality increased among children, adolescents, and young adults nationwide. Then, when the pandemic arrived, mental health and child/adolescent development experts warned that the uncertainty and worry around COVID, coupled with the isolation, interruption in routine, and decreased in-person social activity related to various public safety measures could exacerbate the growing crisis.
To read in-depth details about issues affecting youth mental health, please visit our blog and read these articles:
The Youth Risk Behavior Survey: Mental Health Among High School Students (2023)
Improving Adolescent Mental Health: A National Challenge
How Does the Loneliness Epidemic Affect Teens?
Those articles offer important perspective and context for understanding the current state of mental health among our youth, teens, and young adults, and help us understand why we need to address the challenge with a nationwide effort like The Youth Mental Health Corps (YMHC).
About the Youth Mental Health Corps
Here’s how the organizers describe the YMHC:
“The Youth Mental Health Corps (YHMC) is a collaborative initiative that will support youth mental health in schools and communities while giving over 500 young adults on-ramps into behavioral health careers. The YHMC is a unified, multi-sector partnership designed to address the youth mental health crisis and the mental health workforce shortage in the United States. The YHMC will consist of mental health navigators who are trusted young adults serving in select schools and communities.”
The primary goals of the YHMC are to:
- Offer adolescents and young adults support where they need help most: schools, afterschool programs, community health centers, and youth organizations.
- Place young people interested in working in mental health care on a practical career path with quality training, skills, experiences, official credentials, and/or college credit.
- Increase access and capacity in schools, community organizations, and/or community mental/behavioral health centers, in order to support vulnerable, underserved youth and adolescents.
- Teach and facilitate healthy social media use, digital/online safety/wellbeing with youth, school staff, parents, caregivers, and other members of the community.
Before we discuss the details of the YMHC and share details on the new programs starting in summer of 2024, we’ll offer a quick glimpse into the most recent information on mental health among adolescents and young adults. For detailed information, please explore the articles in the links above.
Youth Mental Health: Facts and Figures
The latest data from the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) show the following information on suicide, hopelessness, and depression among youth and young adults:
- Suicide:
- 2010-2024: increased 62% for adolescents and young adults 10-24
- 2nd leading cause of death for youth age 10-14
- Persistent feelings of hopelessness:
- 33% of all high school students
- 50% of females
- Major depressive episode (MDE), 2022, ages 12-17:
- Overall: 19.5% (4.8 million)
- Female: 28.0%
- Male: 11.5%
- 12-13: 13.0%
- 14-15: 21.4%
- 16-17: 23.8%
- Major depressive episode (MDE) with severe impairment, 2022, ages 12-17:
- Overall: 14.6% (3.5 million)
- Female: 21.7%
- Male: 7.9%
- 12-13: 9.1%
- 14-15: 16.2%
- 16-17: 18.2%
In addition, studies show that in 2023, over 160 million people in the U.S. live in communities without adequate access to evidence-based mental health treatment and support. These areas are officially called Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (MHPSAs) by the Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW). In light of the current youth mental health crisis, it’s essential to address this shortage in new, innovative and creative ways.
As we mention above, that’s one of the primary goals of the program: increase access to quality mental health care in underserved communities, including rural areas where infrastructure and access is significantly limited, by harnessing, honing, directing, and leveraging the energy and commitment of a new generation of mental health advocates and providers.
What’s Happens During the Program? Essential Details for Teens, Young Adults, and Families
Beginning in summer 2024, Youth Mental Health Corps participants can choose to serve in schools, community organizations, and/or community health clinics in one of four states: Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and Texas. Projects will last one 1-2 years, depending on the school or organization, and participants receive a living stipend and other practical support during service.
The YHMC will collaborate with state commissions and provide young people ages of 18-24 years old the opportunity to enter a mental health career path through three certification pathways, depending on the state:
Mental Health First Aid Certification
- School-based peer navigators for high school age youth
- Help high school age students navigate/access mental health resources and support
Peer Support/Recovery Specialist Certification
- Community-based:
- Health centers
- Healthcare institutions
- Lived experience required
- Peer navigators for high school age youth
- Support/teach teens to navigate/access mental health resources
Community Health Worker Certification
- Community-based:
- Health centers
- Healthcare institutions
- Lived experience not required
- Support youth/teens in various community organizations
- Support/teach teens to navigate/access mental health resources
- Provide community mental health resources
That’s an overview of the career options available. Here’s a brief look at the four inaugural YHMC service program locations:
1. Colorado:
- Colorado will offer two pathways:
- School-based stackable certification/higher education credit pathway
- Community health worker state certification pathway:
- Must be 18-24
- S. diploma or GED required
- S. citizen or permanent resident
- Bilingual participants encouraged
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YMHC COLORADO
2. Michigan:
- Michigan will offer two pathways:
- School-based/nonprofit-based pathway
- Peer support/recovery pathway
- Must be 18-24 for school-based pathway
- Must be 18-29 for peer support/recovery pathway
- S. diploma or GED required
- S. citizen or permanent resident
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YMHC MICHIGAN
3. Minnesota:
- Minnesota will offer two pathways:
- School-based pathway
- Recovery specialist pathway
- Must be 18-24 for school-based pathway
- Must be 18-29 for peer recovery specialist
- Direct or indirect lived experience with substance use disorders required
- S. diploma or equivalent required
- S. citizen or permanent resident
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YMHC MINNESOTA
4. Texas:
- Texas will offer one pathway:
- School-based mental health navigator
- Must be 18-24
- S. diploma or GED required
- S. citizen or permanent resident
- Must pass criminal background check
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YMHC TEXAS
To apply for the YMHC, click on the link to the state information, and follow the links. Below, we’ll offer an overview of how a year in the YMHC works.
What’s it Like? A Year in the Youth Mental Health Service Corps
Since this is a new program, the details may change. Participants and organizers will learn from personal experience and the community members they serve in order to build effective, sustainable programs that can help protect youth mental health in the years ahead. Here’s the current working outline of a year in the YHMC:
May-August:
- Research and apply to program
July-August:
- Finalize participation
- Explore options: locations, service pathways
- Preliminary training
September-Following May:
- Start service
- Begin formal training
May-August:
- Complete service
- Earn credential
- Earn college credit
August and Beyond:
- Begin/continue career in chosen specialty
- Complete college degree in chosen specialty
That’s the plan for the 2024-2025 year in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and Texas. In 2025-2026, programs will begin in the following states:
- California
- Iowa
- Maryland
- New Jersey
- New York
- Utah
- Virginia
The program is coordinated by AmeriCorps and operates with additional support from The Schultz Family Foundation, Pinterest, America Forward, and New Profit.
Meeting Youth and Teens Where They Are: Females, Latino Youth, Rural Youth
Many of us understand that some groups of youth, teens, and young adults are more vulnerable to the negative consequences of mental health disorders and/or poor mental health than others. We discuss the issues LGBTQIA+ teens face in our article on Pride Month:
How Can I Support My LGBTQ+ Teen Who Just Came Out During Gay Pride Month?
However, LGBTQIA+ youth aren’t the only group at high risk of mental health disorders and the negative, disruptive consequences of mental health symptoms. Subsets of youth, teens, and young adults at increased risk include:
Females:
- Studies show girls are at higher risk of depression and suicidal behavior than boys
- Girls who are heavy social media users and engage in negative comparison on social media are at higher risk than boys of developing depressive symptoms, sleep problems, low self-esteem, body image problems, and disordered eating.
Rural youth:
- Because of a lack of infrastructure and a shortage of staffing in rural areas, youth, teens, and young adults experience significant barriers to accessing quality mental health care.
- Evidence shows that 69% of rural counties don’t have a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, 45% don’t have a psychologist, 22% don’t have a social worker, and 18% don’t have a behavioral health counselor.
Hispanic/Latinx youth and young adults:
- Several factors increase risk of mental health disorders in the Hispanic and Latinx community, including:
- Stigma: many members of the community report not getting or seeking care our of fear of judgment
- Poverty: high rates of poverty in the Hispanic/Latinx community – 17% vs. 8.2% for non-Hispanic whites – often results in inadequate/no health insurance coverage, which prevents people from seeking care
- Language barriers/lack of cultural competence: in many cases misunderstanding based in language and lack of familiarity with Hispanic/Latinx culture results in inadequate care and/or misdiagnosis, which can exacerbate the problem and increase reluctance to seek mental health support
In an interview published online by NBC, Kiara Alvarez, a professor of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, elaborates on the experience of both Black youth and Hispanic/Latinx youth:
“The reality is that the crisis of lack of access to mental health services for Black and Latino youth has been ongoing for decades. Now that there has been greater attention, greater openness to talking about youth mental health, in some ways we are catching up to a crisis that has been here all along.”
That insight is true across the board. More awareness brings more responsibility. Now that we know our youth are in a mental health crisis, and some youth are more vulnerable than others, it’s critical to support them in any way we can.
Catching Up by Taking the Lead
When we talk about a youth mental health crisis, we’re talking about more than most of us realize. People who are young right now need evidence-based support. To help access that support, the YHMC will train young adults in mental health first aid and train them as peer navigators/recovery support specialists who can help at-risk or vulnerable youth and young adults access the care they need in the short-term.
However, the youth and young adults in crisis are growing up as we speak. When they become adults, the next component of the youth mental health crisis will become more apparent: the shortage of qualified behavioral healthcare workers and staff nationwide. By 2036 – when current high school students are in their mid-20s and current young adults are in their mid-30s – experts project shocking shortages in mental health providers. The following information is available via the Bureau of Health Workforce links we share above:
- 94% projected unmet need for child, family, and school social workers
- 92% projected unmet need for psychiatric physician’s assistants/associates
- 80% projected unmet need for healthcare social workers
- 78% projected unmet need for mental health and substance use disorder counselors
- 74% projected unmet need for school counselors
- 63% projected unmet need for child and adolescent psychiatrists
That’s one reason we wrote this article. The need for support for our youth and young adults is urgent now and will become more urgent over the next decade. Young adults with lived experience in treatment can take steps to help kids just like them. Early adolescents and teens can look to these young adults for practical help getting support. In addition, talking to someone who’s received a diagnosis, engaged in treatment, and learned to live and thrive may be exactly the inspiration they need to commit to the process of change.
