We’ve talked at length about what parents should know in order to help stop youth suicide.  For this episode, we’re exploring how COVID-19 may have affected teen mental health.  We invited a special guest onto our show to help us have a better understanding of that and more.  Our guest, Natalie Alyssa Sanchez, is a recent high school graduate who is passionate about mental health.  Natalie launched a series of clubs on her campus to help provide better resources for the mental health needs of students. She also interned at the local fire department to learn about the mental health needs of fire fighters. Additionally, she’s just started her freshman year of college this fall and is studying psychology. 

Natalie spoke with us about various factors that affect teenage mental health, for example, pressure to get good grades and navigating complicated friendships. We also were interested in how COVID-19 has affected her and other teenagers’ mental health.  COVID-19 has touched each of us in different ways. However, teenagers, especially those who graduated in 2020, have had unprecedented levels of uncertainty and unexpected change.  As schools were forced to cancel proms, graduation ceremonies and classes, teens have had to adjust.  But some teens don’t necessarily possess coping strategies to deal with such hardships.  Natalie shared some of her own positive and negative coping strategies during the pandemic and gave some insight as to why your teen may be sleeping so late. *Hint* one way people cope with feelings of depression and anxiety is through sleep.  (We explore how to know if your teen may be facing a need for greater mental health support in this week’s blog, Teen Depression and COVID-19.)