Gabbie, Awit, Prisha, Victoria, Ella, Mikaela

Our community has experienced a rise in mental health issues in recent years. In our experience, we have noticed that teen mental health is often overlooked by adults. According to the National Education Association (NEA), 60% of teenagers went through a major depressive episode and did not receive any treatment. (Flannery, M. , 2022) Because of this, we have chosen to focus and advocate for teen mental health.  

During our time at iEngage, we explored the topic of teen mental health. We discovered that a lot of teens struggle with mental health, and we identified the root cause of the issue- environmental factors. One of them could be living with someone who has poor mental health. According to CYD Resilience Through Strengths Survey, 41% of teens lived with someone who was mentally ill, suicidal, and/or severely depressed. And the Department of Health & Human Services states that an estimated 49.5 percent of adolescents has had a mental health disorder at some point in their lives.

Root Cause: Stress from environmental factors (such as school, family/home life, relationships, etc) leads to poor teen mental health. 

Goal: Our goal is to partner with adults to educate everyone about teen mental health.