May is Mental Health Month each year, and on May 16 the School Committee received the 2023-2024 Marblehead High School Survey of Substance Use and Related Factors (SURF), presented by Gina Hart, clinical social worker at the high school. And in early June, Hart presented this report to our Board of Health. This survey is conducted annually at the high school, and all students in all grades are able to participate anonymously, unless they choose to opt out. This year, 85% of the high school students participated, and the results are concerning.
Almost a quarter of the students reported that they deal with anxiety, 15.5% with depression and 11.4% with psychotic experiences. A total of 15.9% reported having suicidal thoughts, and 3.1% reported attempts at suicide. While the reports of anxiety, depression, psychotic experiences and suicidal thoughts are all down slightly from the previous year, perhaps due in part to the passage of time from the pandemic, there is a marked increase in reports of attempted suicide, a frightening development.
The stresses of everyday life affect us all at different times and in different ways, but it is heartbreaking to see the number of our teens who are grappling with mental health issues. Certainly, teenage life has its own challenges as children grow older and begin to take on more responsibilities. Peer pressure, body shaming, gender identity, sexual orientation, bullying and academic demands are some examples of factors that can lead to feelings of anxiety and depression and, in the extreme, psychotic episodes and thoughts of or attempts at suicide.
The study also addresses students’ use of alcohol, cannabis and nicotine. Of those surveyed, 77% reported that they had their first use of alcohol by age 15, 62% reported their first use of cannabis by age 15, and over 72% reported their first use of nicotine by age 15.
While many, if not most, of our readers will likely admit (at least to themselves) to experimenting with these substances as teenagers, what is most alarming in this survey is that, when asked if they had their first use of these substances when they were 12 years old or younger, 10% reported “yes” to alcohol, 8% reported “yes” to cannabis and just under 14% reported “yes” to nicotine.
To its credit, our school department does not ignore this data. Listed in the survey are a multitude of programs already in place to address the mental health of our high school students, and efforts are underway to expand such efforts in the lower grades.
Our Board of Health also has long recognized and supported the need to include mental health as a significant component of its work. The Marblehead Counseling Center and the Marblehead Mental Health Task Force are two more resources dedicated to improving the mental health of our youth population.
We must remain vigilant in all efforts to address the mental health needs of our children, and we are fortunate to have so many community resources who recognize the importance of this issue and dedicate much effort to making life better for them. We can never become complacent. We must always strive to do better. Our children deserve nothing less.
The Current Editorial Board
The members of the Current’seditorial board are Ed Bell, who serves as chairman, and Virginia Buckingham, both members of the Current’sboard of directors; Kris Olson and Will Dowd, members of the Current’seditorial staff; and Robert Peck and Joseph P. Kahn. Peck is an attorney, former chairman of Marblehead’s Finance Committee and a former Select Board member. Kahn is a retired Boston Globe journalist.