Coming out of the pandemic, many students continue to face struggles as a result of the stress from previously distanced learning as well as other academic pressures; to address this, leadership at the local and state level is searching for ways to tackle youth mental health.
Looking at the effects of the pandemic on students, according to a 2021 report from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, experts recorded that 50% of students that were surveyed noted that the pandemic had created new problems for them.
Even now, the Arizona state legislature has created a committee on teen mental health to come up with solutions, as teen suicide becomes a more prevalent issue. On the committee is Jennifer Blalock, a kindergarten teacher at Cochise Elementary School, representing Scottsdale Unified School District schools.
