COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has accounted for even more mental health changes among teenagers. At the peak of the lockdown in the spring of 2020, connection with others was greatly limited. 

“COVID caused a lot of issues when it comes to mental health for everybody, but I think with teenagers, it made life a little bit more difficult and unbearable,” Caldwell said. “I notice an increase in anxiety and an increase in depression because, for a lot of kids, school was their way for that separation from the parents, from the home life, from pressures of a lot of things. And then that lack of being able to physically be around other people – the emotional turmoil I think caused a hindrance in our teenagers.”

Although many struggles are often associated with the pandemic, some students thrived in the enclosed environment that caused virtual learning, and are now struggling with the switch back to in-person learning.

“I saw students [during] COVID that really kind of benefitted because they couldn’t get here at 8 a.m.,” Rans said. “They struggled with the structure of the school, and when they could wake up at whatever time, do an assignment and get it in by midnight. I could see some students, not many, that benefited from the more flexible structure of it, [and] then the kids that were kind of struggling with the isolation part of it.”