Research

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The Youth Mental Health Tracker by Surgo Health is a comprehensive, actionable mental health and wellbeing data platform to empower equitable-youth centered solutions. The Youth Mental Health Tracker is built on holistic data collected from over 4,500 youth across the U.S., with plans to continue surveying youth through multiple rounds until 2026. This ongoing effort will monitor changes over time, providing an evolving, real-time picture of youth mental health and wellbeing.
About
This action guide was designed for school administrators in kindergarten through 12th grade schools (K-12), including principals and leaders of school-based student support teams, to identify evidence-based strategies, approaches, and practices that can positively influence students’ mental health.

Mental health is important for everyone, and includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being.6, 7 It affects how we think, feel, and act as well as how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. For children and youth, mental health also includes reaching developmental and emotional milestones, and learning skills to cope with challenges and function well at home, school, and in their communities. Mental health is a component of behavioral health, which also includes choices or actions that affect overall wellness.
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Youth peer support creates connections between young people with shared identities and mental health experiences, offering mutual support and empowerment. Programs and services range from broad community-centered initiatives to specialized one-on-one support from certified youth peer support specialists. Crucially, peer support stands on its own as a unique and essential mental health resource for young people, fostering recovery journeys and enhancing holistic well-being alongside or independently of clinical services.

This paper and findings are driven by members of Mental Health America’s inaugural Youth Policy Accelerator (YPA). The YPA is a national leadership program designed to support young adults with the skills, connections, and opportunities to advance mental health policy change. In addition to lived and professional expertise, this report was informed by a national survey of individuals working in youth peer support. It outlines policy recommendations to ensure all young people across the United States have access to peer support when and where they need it.
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This report seeks to connect the past with the present by examining how historical and cultural contexts shape our understanding of mental health. By engaging in meaningful conversations with those who have navigated previous generational crises, we aim to uncover lessons that can inform and strengthen modern mental health advocacy. Our focus is on learning from the experiences of previous generations to better address the mental health needs of today’s youth, acknowledging that while our context may be different, the underlying struggles are often shared.

Through this work, we aim to keep the conversation on youth mental health active and evolving. By reopening the discussions sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic and situating them within a broader historical context, this report seeks to sustain the momentum toward meaningful and lasting change.
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The Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report provides data on health behaviors and experiences of high school students in the United States. Data highlight students' behaviors and experiences in 2023, changes from 2021 to 2023, and 10-year trends. The report focuses on:

Sexual behavior
Substance use
Experiences of violence
Mental health
Suicidal thoughts and behaviors
About
Youth mental wellbeing in Europe is at a critical juncture, with over 1 in 6 young people struggling with mental health challenges, exacerbated by unmet care needs and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the significant human and economic costs, a positive future is achievable through a proactive focus on prevention and promotion, fostering emotional resilience, and creating supportive environments. Efforts like mindfulness in schools, social media reform, and evidence-based community initiatives can empower youth while addressing systemic gaps in care. With increased attention and investment from governments, private sectors, and philanthropic organizations like the Z Zurich Foundation, Europe can build a society where youth mental wellbeing is prioritized. This whitepaper outlines a roadmap for collective action, offering case studies and recommendations to turn this vision into reality.
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The challenges facing youth today are daunting and widespread: Many struggle with their mental health and substance use. A national survey showed that nearly all indicators of poor mental health for teens worsened from 2013-2023—including increases in the percentage of high school students who experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness (rising from 30% to 40% over the 10-year period).[i] The 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health revealed that a larger percentage of young adults ages 18-25 have a substance use disorder (27.8%) than any other age group.[ii] Although COVID-19 placed unprecedented stress on youth, these trends were in motion long before the pandemic began in 2020. Fortunately, these trends are also treatable—and sometimes preventable—with a health care delivery system that is primed and ready to tackle the unique needs of youth and their families.
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The Health of Our Minds is Inseparable from the Health of Our Bodies.

Inseparable fights for a future where mental health policy, no longer an afterthought, helps our country thrive. Together, we will empower Americans from every town, city, and home to better care for one another by demanding and winning policy that better cares for us all.
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We have the knowledge and resources, yet no collective strategy to address the mental health needs of all people at all levels of severity. Philanthropy must seize this moment of opportunity and meet the growing need with a proportional, coordinated response in order to prevent, mitigate, and address the growing mental health challenges in the United States. In this guide, we build on The Case for Philanthropic Investment in mental health examined in part one of this series, helping both new and existing funders to prioritize investments in support of mental health that are most likely to make a difference. These priorities are not only critical standalone issues, but they are key to progress in numerous social issue areas.

  • Community
  • Youth and their Support Systems
  • Mental Health Workforce
  • Comprehensive Crisis Response
    • About
    This integrated operational framework provides an overview of the connections between mental health, neurological and substance use (MNS) conditions, and their links to health, well-being and the broader public health and sustainable development agenda. The need for integrated approaches is increasingly recognized as critical to address the complex interactions between mental health, brain health, substance use, and physical health, particularly in light of global threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The framework also provides a series of actions for governments and health service planners and advisors to achieve integration across four domains: leadership and governance; care services; promotion and prevention; and health information systems, evidence generation and research.
    About
    The 2024 Annual Report summarizes data contributed to CCMH during the 2023-2024 academic year, beginning July 1, 2023 and ending on June 30, 2024. De-identified data were contributed by 213 college and university counseling centers, describing 173,536 unique college students seeking mental health treatment, 4,954 clinicians, and 1,215,151 appointments.
    About
    The Shaping Us Framework aims to provide an accessible approach to talking about social and emotional skills that cuts across disciplines and engages a broad audience. The framework was created through a global listening exercise involving academic, clinical and practitioner experts. The aim was to develop consensus on the universally relevant skills and capabilities that matter most throughout our lives and across diverse socioeconomic and cultural contexts. The final framework comprises thirty social and emotional skills grouped into six clusters.
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    The Children’s Budget provides a comprehensive analysis of the share of spending allocated to kids over more than 250 government programs in the federal budget. This analysis tracks domestic and international spending on children, including both mandatory and discretionary funding across nearly every federal department, representing numerous agencies and bureaus. First Focus on Children has published an annual Children’s Budget for more than 15 years.
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    Recent data show investments in school-based mental health supports are having a positive impact on our youth. There is still more to be done to ensure every child’s school has effective programs in place that promote mental wellbeing for all students and offer mental health services and support to those who need it.
    About
    This report utilizes the data collected through The Trevor Project’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People, which captured the experiences of more than 18,000 LGBTQ+ young people ages 13-24 across the United States in 2024 – and segments it across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C.

    State by state, this report offers a unique and detailed look at mental health and suicide risk, access to care, impacts of anti-LGBTQ+ victimization and policies, and methods of support for LGBTQ+ youth – as described by a national sample of LGBTQ+ young people themselves.
    About
    As we confront the pressing youth mental health crisis, research shows that implementing daily mindful awareness emerges as a proactive strategy to enhance mental health and wellbeing while cultivating positive childhood experiences that build resilience and emotional intelligence.

    Our white paper explains how mindful awareness serves as a universal upstream prevention strategy for youth mental health and wellbeing.
    About
    In this year’s issue, we focus on the impact of caring and sharing on people’s happiness. Like ‘mercy’ in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, caring is “twice-blessed” – it blesses those who give and those who receive. In this report, we investigate both of these effects: the benefits to the recipients of caring behaviour and the benefits to those who care for others.
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    In Abundance: An Analysis of the Thriving Landscape of Collective Giving in the U.S. explores the transformative impact of collective giving on philanthropy. Practiced in cultures all around the world, collective giving brings people together to pool their resources, including time, talent, treasure, testimony, and ties — often referred to as the 5Ts.
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