Bonnie Watson Coleman: “I thank my colleague for organizing this very important moment on the floor of the House of Representatives to address…”

“I thank my colleague for organizing this very important moment on the floor of the House of Representatives to address what is a critical, urgent issue, and crisis in our country right now. Madam Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to this public health crisis that our Nation has yet to adequately address. Over the last 13 years, youth mental well-being has plummeted. The Surgeon General's office reported that between 2009 and 2019, the share of high school students reporting persistent sadness or hopelessness increased by 40 percent, while the share of those contemplating suicide increased by 36 percent. The COVID pandemic has only made this worse. The youth mental health crisis--in many ways, a pandemic of its own--has only worsened in recent years. While the President's COVID response has been significantly more effective than that of his predecessor, we cannot properly address COVID without addressing the mental health consequences of over 2 years of isolation, uncertainty, and historic amounts of death and suffering. Black and Brown youth are among those hurting the most. In 2019, my Emergency Task force on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health found alarming increases in suicide rates among Black youth, in part caused by racial disparities in access to care. As of last year, that rate of increase is more than twice as high for Black girls and Black boys.…”