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Every night that Dr. Jennifer Hoffmann works as an attending physician in the pediatric ER, she says, at least one child comes in with a mental or behavioral health emergency. Over the span of her career, she’s seen the number of young people needing help grow enormously. “The most common problems that I see are children with suicidal thoughts or children with severe behavior problems, where they may be a risk of harm to themselves or others,” said Hoffmann, who works at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. (Christensen, 2/13)

Wyoming leads the nation for suicide deaths. A bill hopes to address that fact and is slowly moving through the legislature. It would permanently establish the 988 Suicide and Crisis Line in Wyoming, establish quality standards and potentially provide some kind of funding. (Kudelska, 2/10)

Primary care providers are at the forefront of the nation’s deepening behavioral health crisis because when patients walk into a doctor’s office, they bring all their needs with them. Asthma. Anxiety. Diabetes. Depression. Sniffles. Stress. “We artificially separate ‘this is a mental health issue’ and ‘this is a physical health issue,’” said Lisa Barkley, a doctor and director of the family medicine residency program at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, where James is training. “But really, people are just coming in for their issues.” (Johnson, 2/10)

Hamilton College has found one answer to the growing number of students seeking mental-health care on campus: Send them to other students. The school trains about a dozen undergrads a year to serve as peer counselors, a role that entails being a good listener to other students. The counselors go through about three days of training per year and attend weekly meetings to review peer conversations with the school counseling center’s professional therapists. (Petersen, 2/12)

Today’s youth are suffering, and inaction is no longer an option. In his State of the Union address to the country this week, President Joe Biden made clear that youth mental health is a priority. As the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy has been emphasizing since 2021 – and as many parents and caregivers have known firsthand for a while – the mental health needs of young people in this country have long since risen beyond what the current health system has the capacity to support. (Chaudhary, 2/12)

Ohio could soon make it easier for parents to restrict their children's access to TikTok, Snapchat and other apps. Part of Gov. Mike DeWine's two-year budget proposal would require social media companies to get parental consent before allowing kids under age 16 to use their platforms. They would be tasked with creating a splash page that verifies the user's age and obtains the necessary consent from a parent or guardian. (BeMiller, 2/12)