School shootings have become an unfortunate part of life in America. According to Everytown for Gun Safety Fund, there have been at least 178 incidents of gunfire on school grounds across the country so far this year. That does not count threats targeting schools that disrupt the school day and create anxiety among educators and students.
As the St. Louis region recognizes the second anniversary of the school shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, addressing young people’s mental health is top of mind for educators, administrators and mental health professionals.
Behavioral Health Response Chief Clinical Officer Bart Andrews told St. Louis on the Air that school shootings are a fear that previous generations didn’t have to worry about. That said, supporting young people experiencing depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder starts with the adults in their lives modeling healthy coping habits.
“This is why, when we're working with parents, we say, ‘Even though you've been impacted by this, and even though this hurts, it's important that you model resilience to your children,’” Andrews said. “Our natural response is to be incredibly anxious, to defend and to get in and do things [for our children]. We do acknowledge that you're going to have some intense feelings and some negative experience connected to this [event] because that's natural. At the same time, we need to model healthy coping strategies and model that, ‘You will get through this.’”
Andrews said that youths are more open to discussing mental health than generations before them, but he has concerns regarding how young people are learning about mental health, especially if they are getting their information from social media.
“There is so much utter garbage on TikTok and Facebook and Instagram about mental illness that we have kids diagnosing themselves with mental illnesses that they absolutely do not have,” he said. “[Social media is] pathologizing negative emotional states and [suggests] everybody that has a negative emotional state has a mental health disorder. That is absolutely not true in any way, shape or form.”
The way society sees natural reactions to trauma and anxiety, Andrews added — and the comparison of mental disorders to medical disorders — can complicate discussions about mental health.
“Medical conditions are not culturally bound in the same way that mental health conditions are. Mental health conditions can be spread through social contagion,” Andrews said. “We need to normalize negative emotions. Please don't diagnose yourself if you think you have a mental illness. Please get a professional opinion.”
Ultimately, Andrews advocates for more attention to be brought to making young people feel welcomed and to fostering a sense of belonging.
“We really should be looking at this sense of alienation, sense of being lost, sense of ‘the future is doom and gloom’ that our youth are facing,” he said. “So many youths feel … disconnected from the world around them. That sense of alienation is incredibly unhealthy.”
For more on ways to address youth mental health, including Bart Andrews’ thoughts on what news media should do to quell widespread anxiety related to school shootings, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
