It is safe to say that for most, the adolescent experience was a time of mistakes, exploration,  anxieties, ever-changing emotions, unsteady relationships, excitement, and hope. Although emotional and mental health has always been a challenge for teens, mental health has risen to the point of a national crisis for Generation Z.  One study showed from 2007 to 2016, pediatric emergency room visits for mental-health disorders rose 60 percent.   57 percent of teen girls reported being persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, up from 36 percent in 2011. The CDC reports that close to a third of teen girls have considered suicide. We have seen numbers continue to rise through and after Covid.  The reasons for the rise in this generation’s mental health crisis are complex.  Some of the major reasons may include increased isolation, economic stress, academic anxiety and stress and other social pressures.  What can we do to help change the tide of mental health problems, especially for our own children?

Here are some of the biggest predictors of healthy mental health:

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