Florida’s First Lady Raises Alarm for Children’s Mental Health
September 21st, 2020 by Mike Vasilinda
First Lady Casey DeSantis held a mental health round table at the Governors’ mansion Monday afternoon.
She said one Florida hotline reported a 36 percent increase in calls from kids 13 to 18 who reported issues with the pandemic or their mental state, with 138 calls in one week alone.
She also quoted CDC data released in July showing four in ten adults reported mental health concerns.
“A staggering 25 percent of 18 to 24 year olds seriously had considered suicide in the past 30 days, and that was in July. If you extrapolate that number, what does that mean in terms of Florida and that demographic of 18-24 year olds? That’s 400,000 plus children in the state of Florida that could potentially be thinking along those lines,” said DeSantis.
The first lady said reopening school classrooms would help teens and young adults get help and perhaps lower the number of those with unmet mental health needs.
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