Blog

For many young people, the world seems to be crashing around them. It is a phenomenon years in the making but certainly accelerated by COVID-19, which created a climate of learning loss, decreased human interaction, and a scary lack of resilience. It is a perfect storm for anxiety, loneliness, and depression. September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and now…

This is the second post in a series. A six-year study of adolescent decision-making by SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) and Liberty Mutual Insurance revealed spikes in youth alcohol use (between 6th and 7th grades) and other drug use (between 8th and 9th grades). These “Decision Points” has helped parents know when it’s best to talk about these issues with their…

Two recent youth suicides in rapid succession claimed the lives of a 19-year-old young man and a 14-year-old teenager in a small Northeast community. Both deaths, and thousands more across the country, beg the question that serves as the title for the 2021 book by Josie Jacob, Why Did You Choose to Die? A Personal Story of Reconciliation…

By Stephen Gray Wallace, featured in Psychology Today.   Even with a new subvariant of COVID-19 (BA.2) speeding our way, there is an undeniable feeling among the broader population that the sunset of this pandemic is soon to set. People across the land are ditching their facemasks – except where mandates are reappearing – packing restaurants and…

By Stephen Gray Wallace COVID-19 has wrought so many unforeseen consequences for youth mental health that it’s almost hard to quantify them. Some were recently noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which stated that mental-health related emergency room visits for children aged 12 to 17 increased by 31 percent from April…

By Stephen Gray Wallace. Why resiliency is key for kids during, and after, the pandemic These days, it seems that every time we are about to turn a corner on COVID-19, we somehow miss the intersection. Such is the long, slow, agonizing slog that is the pandemic. By now, most people are familiar with the…

By Stephen Gray Wallace, featured in Psychology Today Since 1986, educators and public health proponents have used social norming theory to reduce youth risk behaviors. This theory holds that the behavior of young people is heavily influenced by their perception of what the norm is among their peers with regard to behaviors such as underage drinking…

By Stephen Gray Wallace, featured in Psychology Today. In those six words, scribbled in his notebook next to disturbing drawings of guns and blood, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley warned those in his world that he was not OK. Hours later, despite opportunities for intervention, Crumbley shot up his school, killing four and wounding seven more. While…

By Stephen Gray Wallace, featured in Psychology Today. There was nothing pretty about the public spectacle Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers created by lying about his vaccination status. His hubris placed his team at a competitive disadvantage and his teammates (and competitors) at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Just as bad, he failed on the role model…

By Stephen Gray Wallace. Just last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association declared a national emergency in children’s mental health, reminding us of the “serious toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of existing challenges” (AAP, 2021). Placing an urgent call…