The first time Kavya Suresh remembers hearing people talk about mental health was after there had been a series of gun violence threats against San Marcos High School.

Suresh was in sixth grade at the time, and her older sister, a student at San Marcos, had developed anxiety because of the threats.

She saw the conversation around mental health continue as she started high school during the pandemic. She’s also seen the perspective and conversations around mental health change during those years. 

“We’ve accepted the idea of there being fluctuations,” Suresh said. “You can have good days and bad days, and you can invest in your mental health, you can take practices to improve your mental health.”

Suzanne Grimmesey with the county Behavioral Wellness Department told Noozhawk that depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders are the most common mental illnesses seen in youth today. 

Grimmesey suggests that changes in technology, parenting styles, and an increase in academic pressure contribute to more adolescents facing mental health issues. 

Grimmesey also said young people in Santa Barbara County have faced a number of events that would impact mental health.

“In our county alone, in the last five years, we’ve had significant disasters, mass-casualty events, the pandemic, and climate change,” Grimmesey said.

Now a senior at San Marcos, Suresh said that these events have caused unresolved anxiety for students and young people growing up right now. 

“There’s just collective anxiety in the air, and I think we’re all kind of absorbing that,” Suresh said. “And we are kind of repressing it because talking about it is really hard.”

While it has been three-plus years since the pandemic began in the United States, experts say the impact it had on children cannot be ignored. 

“We’ve got students that are in the building now that were on Zoom in elementary, and they’re still learning how to do school,” La Cumbre Jr. High School Principal Bradley Brock told Noozhawk.

Brock says that the teachers and staff recognize that they can’t make up for the loss of learning right away. Brock told Noozhawk that teachers are learning new ways to address students’ mental health issues instead of just sending kids out of the classroom. 

“One professional learning opportunity that we have for teachers was just around trauma-informed practices,” Brock said.

Brock said that teachers are learning to recognize that students won’t always be in the right headspace to learn when they come to class and how teachers can best work with students when that happens.

Brocks said the key to doing this is having teachers and staff understand students’ backgrounds and the unique challenges they face. 

“I think the key to trauma-informed practices is being an open-minded adult, to challenge your assumptions and belief systems,” Brock said. 

Suresh was the 2022-23 student board member for the district, and she said she saw a lot of students experiencing burnout last year. Now as a senior, she said, she sees a lot of toxic competition over getting into college. 

“They’re not leaving enough time to genuinely take care of themselves,” Suresh said. “Trying to prepare for your future and neglecting your present self, there’s going to be a lot of burnout that’s happening.”

She also recognizes that social media have an impact on mental health due to students comparing their lives to the lives of their peers. During the pandemic, teens had more time than ever to not only compare themselves, but to judge themselves.

“I think mental health from the pandemic has also gotten worse, because we spent a lot of time alone by ourselves, and all we had to do was just look at ourselves and analyze ourselves and criticize ourselves,” Suresh said.

During a joint Santa Barbara City Council and school board meeting last month, district administrator ShaKenya Edison explained the tiered system of support for children and families to meet their academic and wellness goals.

Edison, the assistant superintendent for the students and family services division, said the system also removes barriers that prevent achieving goals.

“We want all kids to have access to adults who are creating spaces where they belong and are trusted, really having meaningful relationships for them,” Edison said.

That idea is just tier one of the system. Tier two is for students who are already receiving these practices but have additional needs. It allows for teachers and staff to find ways to best serve students in a more small group setting. 

Tier three is for students who may need more individualized support and care after going through tier one and two, Edison said.  

She told Noozhawk that students will typically spend six to eight weeks getting that personalized support before real change is noticed in the child.

“When kids are exhibiting the behaviors that are appropriate, are good enough, we just remove that tier of support, but they always receive tier one,” Edison said. 

Edison said that the district aims to destigmatize mental health issues and care, and teach the necessary skills for social emotional behavior just as they would teach math and reading. 

“We want to erase the stigma of mental health,” Edison said. “We want a clear understanding of when something is mental health and when something is just social emotional competencies or skills that are needed.”

Another goal is making sure students have the ability to refer to see counselors. Previously, a teacher would have to refer a student to go see a counselor; now students can do so themselves. 

 The district also offers students and families 12 free therapy sessions. Families are able to choose their clinician if they want a specific focus on race, gender identity, or religion. 

“We’re really reimagining how we partner so that we can offer families options that provides them support for 365 days, knowing that as a school, we’re only open and accessible for 180,” Edison said. 

There are QR codes posted throughout the district’s junior high and high school campuses that give students the ability to self refer themselves to see on-campus clinicians and set up the free therapy sessions.

Middle and high schools in the district also have intervention centers on each campus with specialist available to talk to students. Students can choose to go to these centers anytime they get stressed in class or just need a break for a few minutes.

All the high schools in the Santa Barbara Unified School District are developing wellness centers on their campuses, with Dos Pueblos High School first to open theirs later this year. 

Each campus has to fundraise money for the wellness center, and Dos Pueblos is further along in their fundraising and picked out a space for it already, Edison said.

Until the wellness centers are open, the district’s website has a list of resources for students and families, including helplines and videos about talking about current events.

Suresh, the high school senior, said the district is heading in a good direction when it comes to improving mental health and wellness but she wants to see continued education and a cultural shift around mental health. 

“Creating a family in every single classroom will help students open up and will help them feel like they have somewhere to go if they need it,” Suresh said. 

Suresh’s advice to students who want to work on their mental health while balancing the chaos of the school year is to take time to do the things they enjoy and spend time with themselves. 

“Give yourself time every day, whether it be going outside, going on a walk, enjoying time with your family, enjoying time with your friends, putting on some music, just having a dance party,” Suresh said.

“Doing what makes you happy and without feeling guilty for it, without feeling you owe somebody an explanation for doing that.”

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, call or text 988 for the Suicide Crisis Lifeline. Or call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text TALK to 741741, or go to https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/.

Learn more about the Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness at https://www.countyofsb.org/274/Behavioral-Wellness.

For help accessing Behavioral Wellness services, call the 24/7 toll free Crisis Response and Services Access Line at 888-868-1649.

Youth & Family Mental Health Resource Directory for Santa Barbara County in English and Spanish. Community events calendar with support groups, educational workshops, trainings, and more for students, parents, and those working with youth.

Mi Vida, Mi Voz, Mi Comunidad provides information about community resources in Spanish.

Social emotional learning and mental health resources for families from the Santa Barbara Unified School District.

More community resources on youth mental health and wellness are available on the Santa Barbara County Education Office website here.