Please enjoy this excerpt from our latest report on mental health and Gen Z in schools:
Creating Organizations That Are Mental-Health Friendly
Focusing on Connection, Expectations, and Purpose
The issues that impact young people’s mental health are broad, ranging from the macro (climate change, social media, stress from school, political polarization, a pandemic) to the personal (school, home, friends). The solution must engage this broad array of social issues. Noah, 24, articulates a concern that surfaced in our interviews; namely, that “there needs to be big structural changes” and that leaders can’t “just tell people to make individual changes” when it comes to improving mental health.
Noah goes on: “Adults, especially those who have money and the time to really campaign for something, should spend at least as much time doing that as they do trying to tell young people [to find support systems].” For Noah, the responsibility adults have is not just to mentor young people through their mental-health concerns, but to vote to expand health care or to lobby for financial accessibility around insurance premiums for mental-health care.