By Wendy Harris
Project Coordinator

Healthy Teen Minds, an initiative of The Connection, was an eight-year project to improve the mental health of youth in Calumet, Outagamie and Winnebago counties. Our project set an ambitious goal to reduce the rates of depression and suicide-related behaviors among youth, ages 12-18, by implementing population-level strategies focused on upstream prevention, interventions for struggling teens, and improving access to care.

This project, which ran from 2016 – 2024, was informed by alarming youth mental health data and community concern over the growing youth mental health crisis. Fast forward eight years and the Healthy Teen Minds team is proud to have developed two successful strategies that are being sustained in the community. They include a region-wide implementation of Sources of Strength, an evidence-based suicide prevention and wellness program for teens, at area middle and high schools. The second strategy was the development and launch of MyConnectionNew.org, a mental health service navigation website designed to make it easier for people to access local providers, services and supports.

Did these strategies make a positive impact? The answer is a resounding “yes.” Did the strategies “move the needle” on teen depression and suicide-related behaviors? That answer is more nuanced, but there is good news to report in the latest local Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data, which provide a window into the mental health and emotional wellbeing of our local youth. YRBS data was used to both inform the development of strategies for this project and measure change.

Suicide-related behaviors are trending downward in the region, with a slightly smaller percentage of high school students in the tri-county region seriously considering suicide; making a plan for suicide; and attempting suicide, according to 2021 YRBS data. The opposite is true for both the state and nation, where these numbers have continued to rise.

Meanwhile, the rate of self-reported depression among tri-county high school students grew slightly to 27 percent post-pandemic, a smaller percentage compared to both the state and national averages.

This gives us hope that our collective efforts, as a community, to prevent youth from going into crisis in the fi rst place are working. We remain cautiously optimistic as we await the release of the 2023 YRBS data to confirm whether these trends continue.

Of course, we could not have anticipated the global pandemic that exacerbated mental health risk factors and eroded protective factors for not just youth, but the entire population. The pandemic reinforced the lessons we were learning throughout this project, with great urgency: That social isolation is dangerous for our mental health.

And what our youth need more than ever is to feel socially connected, supported within their schools, and have trusted adults they can turn to in times of stress. Having a trusted adult — one of the key tenets of Sources of Strength — reduces suicide risk in teens. Our local YRBS data show, however, that we still have work to do in this area.

The Healthy Teen Mind Project Report 2024 offers a detailed review of our strategies, including how they were implemented; their impact; and sustainability plans for the future. Eight years went by fast, and in the scheme of population-level change, it can feel like a small blip. But our community is gaining momentum to turn the tide on our youth mental health crisis.

Our Sources of Strength strategy was, by far and away, our biggest undertaking of this project. Twenty-two middle and high schools joined us on the journey to implement the program. Our message to those schools is: Stay the course, because Sources of Strength works and it has the power to transform school culture so ALL students can feel connected and supported.

As for other schools that are ready to join this “wellness movement,” there is good news to celebrate. We are thrilled to report that the Cooperative Educational Service Agency 6 (CESA 6), based in Oshkosh, has not only taken over the Sources of Strength strategy, but as of March 2024, has received $400,000 in state funding to support the expansion of Sources in Northeastern Wisconsin and throughout the state.