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From 2011 to 2022, over half a million lives (539,810) were lost to suicide, with 2022 showing the highest number of deaths on record. Within this period, the adjusted suicide rate increased by 16%. Recognizing the mounting mental health crisis and demand for accessible crisis care, the federal government introduced a new crisis number, 988, available nationwide in July 2022. This easy to remember three-digit number connects callers who are suicidal or experiencing a mental health emergency to a crisis counselor at one of 200+ local crisis call centers. There, they may access crisis counseling, resources, referrals, and connections to other crisis services. Though suicide deaths slowed in 2019 and 2020, they began to increase again in 2021 and 2022, but the cause of this recent rise in suicides is unclear.
Key takeaways from an analysis of aggregate provisional data from 2022 and CDC WONDER data from 2011 to 2021, which represents the most recent and comprehensive data available before the mid-2022 launch of 988, include the following:
The National Association for the Dually Diagnosed has partnered with the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors to conduct a study investigating services provided to teens and young adults who have intellectual/developmental disabilities and co-occurring mental health conditions (dual diagnosis).
The goal of this study is to identify best practices and improvements needed to ensure responsive, individualized and effective treatment and support for teens and youth with a dual diagnosis who are experiencing a crisis. NADD will utilize the information obtained from this study to identify strategies that build capacity within communities to better meet the needs of teens and youth who have intellectual/developmental disabilities and mental health conditions.
We are seeking volunteers to complete a short survey and participate in a follow-up phone or video interview.
Volunteer requirements:
Additional information:
Survey, phone interviews and video sessions will be completed through Monday, July 17, 2023.
Participation is voluntary and all responses will be kept confidential. You may exit the online survey or interview at any time. Before you participate, you will be asked to electronically sign an adult consent form. To protect your privacy, no names or any personally identifiable information will be collected outside of coordinating your phone interview or video session.
When the FDA first asserted the authority to regulate e-cigarettes in 2016, many people assumed the agency would quickly get rid of vapes with flavors like cotton candy, gummy bears, and Froot Loops that appeal to kids.
Instead, the FDA allowed all e-cigarettes already on the market to stay while their manufacturers applied for the OK to market them.
Seven years later, vaping has ballooned into an $8.2 billion industry, and manufacturers are flooding the market with thousands of products — most sold illegally and without FDA permission — that can be far more addictive.
“The FDA has failed to protect public health,” said Eric Lindblom, a former senior adviser to the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “It’s a tragedy.”
Yet the FDA isn’t the only entity that has tolerated the selling of vapes to kids.
Multiple players in and out of Washington have declined to act, tied the agency’s hands, or neglected to provide the FDA with needed resources. Former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump both have prevented the FDA from broadly banning candy-flavored vapes.
Meanwhile, today’s vapes have become “bigger, badder, and cheaper” than older models, said Robin Koval, CEO of the Truth Initiative, a tobacco control advocacy group. The enormous amount of nicotine in e-cigarettes — up 76% over five years — can addict kids in a matter of days, Koval said.
E-cigarettes in the U.S. now contain nicotine concentrations that are, on average, more than twice the level allowed in Canada and Europe. The U.S. sets no limits on the nicotine content of any tobacco product.
“We’ve never delivered this level of nicotine before,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which opposes youth vaping. “We really don’t know the long-term health implications.”
Elijah Stone was 19 when he tried his first e-cigarette at a party. He was a college freshman, grappling with depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and “looking for an escape.” Store clerks never asked for his ID.
Stone said he was “hooked instantly.”
Nearly half of all Americans will have a behavioral health issue in their lifetime, from a mood disorder to a substance use problem. Behavioral health care encompasses a wide variety of interventions delivered by many different types of providers. In the U.S., nearly all these providers are in short supply.
The scarcity of behavioral health professionals is undermining people’s ability to get timely care. This is reinforced by historical underinvestment in behavioral health care by public insurance programs (like Medicaid and Medicare), private insurers, and employers — including lack of coverage and low reimbursement rates. In 2021, fewer than half of people with a mental illness were able to access timely care; those with substance use disorders were even less likely. Some groups are disproportionately impacted by workforce shortages:
To better understand these shortages, we need to know who makes up the behavioral health workforce and the challenges they face in providing care to underserved communities.
When a new diagnosis is given or a new problem arises, many parents are at a loss for how to start helping their child. Thankfully, there are many organizations in Washington state that are ready to help families in a variety of different specializations. Here are some places to start.
For general parenting concerns, Parenting Trust for Washington Children provides education, advice, and resources for a variety of concerns. Parent Help 123 is able to help caregivers find benefits and services available to them and their families. They run a hotline at 1-800-322-2588. Families of Color Seattle (FOCS) connects families, caregivers, and children of color through peer-led parent support groups.
For families who have children are youth with special needs, the Arc of Washington advocates for the rights and full participation of all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Visit the Statewide Parent to Parent (P2P) website to see the local chapters of the Parent-to-Parent program. The program matches families to those who have been in similar situations, to aid and support them in their journeys. PAVE provides support, training, information, and resources to empower and give voice to individuals, youth, and families impacted by disabilities through several programs, including Person-Centered Planning, STOMP program for military families, and health information program. Open Doors for Multicultural Families provides culturally and linguistically relevant information, services, and programming to culturally and linguistically diverse families of persons with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The Washington Autism Alliance (WAA) extends access to healthcare, education and services for people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD’s) and related intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in Washington State.
For families working to get their child a proper education, contact PAVE’s Parent Training and Information (PTI) program, which helps family caregivers, youth, and professionals with questions about services for children and young people with disabilities, especially those concerting special education.
For those with children and youth with behavioral health issues, including mental health and substance abuse problems, the Center Of Parent Excellence (COPE Project), run by A Common Voice, was developed to provide a pathway for Washington State parents who are accessing and navigating the system to have independent peer support to ease their journey. For fathers, Dads M.O.V.E. was created to strengthen the father’s role in raising children with behavioral health needs through education, peer support and advocacy.
A new CDC report points to record levels of violence, trauma, and mental health concerns for teenagers, with girls and LGBQ+ youth faring more poorly (the survey did not ask about transgender identity). The findings highlight how the pandemic made things worse for many kids.
We may make assumptions about people with disabilities’ risk for suicide. A 2021 report published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found people with disabilities are more likely to think about, plan or attempt suicide than people without disabilities.
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Since the pandemic began, there has been an increase in suicide rates among young people, particularly Black adolescents. Rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, and depression have also continued to rise as the long-term impact of COVID-19 plays out. Seven of 10 public schools report that the number of students seeking mental health services has increased since 2020. With students back in the structured environment of school, educators are working overtime to meet their behavioral health needs. Fortunately, the federal government has responded with unprecedented levels of support and efforts are underway to help schools put these new or dramatically expanded resources to good use.
The American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) provides more than $122 billion to help pre-K through grade12 students recover from lost time in schools by supporting their mental health, as well as their social, emotional, and academic needs. Additionally, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 commits more than a billion dollars in the next five years to support schools in addressing youth behavioral health needs, including funding for school mental health workforce. The law also directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Education (DOE) to create a technical assistance center that will help states and schools better use Medicaid dollars for school-based services. In July 2022, DOE and HHS issued a joint letter to governors encouraging partnerships at state and local levels and outlining resources to support youth with behavioral health needs.
An overwhelmingly majority (90%) of Americans believe the nation is in the midst of a mental health crisis, and young adults appear to be suffering the most, a new KFF-CNN survey on mental health in America reveals.
A third (34%) of adults under age 30 rate their mental health as “only fair” or “poor,” compared to 19% of those ages 30 and older. Half (52%) say they “always” or “often” felt anxious over the past year (28% for older adults), and about a third say they always or often felt depressed (33%) or lonely (32%) in the past year, also significantly higher than for older adults (18% each among those ages 30 and older).
In addition, about a third (35%) of young adults say they have been unable to work or engage in other activities due to a mental health condition in the past year, a rate significantly higher than older adults.
