KANSAS CITY, Mo. — How has the pandemic affected our kids?
It's a question many families have been asking themselves over the past year and a half.
From learning loss, to mental health, the KSHB 41 I-Team has been looking for answers to help families navigate pandemic issues.
Anchor and reporter Caitlin Knute connected with mental health professionals who works with kids to find out what they're seeing.
Below are portions of her conversation with those experts.
Knute: "When it comes to mental health and kids and teens, what are you seeing? Are you seeing increases in anxiety, depression, suicides, suicide attempts, etc.?"
Tim DeWeese, Director, Johnson County Mental Health Center: "Across the board, we are seeing an increase of overall anxiety. I think there is a level of depression that has increased."
Janelle Porter, Director of Student Services, North Kansas City School District: "We are noticing that any kid that had any type of anxiety around school, now trying to come back and re-integrate into face-to-face when they have been home for so long really just magnifies all of those anxieties that they had."
Lisa Garcia-Stewart, Director of Student Services, Kansas City Kansas School District: "Our data shows that there has been certainly an uptick, 160% increase from last year, and the number of suicide assessments that we have completed this year 354 assessments."
Knute: "When you’re doing these assessments, are they mostly with your older students, or do you ever have to do this with younger students?"
Garcia-Stewart: "We see them at all levels including elementary school."
Knute: "What can we do as parents, Tim? What can we do for our kids if we notice that they seem anxious or we noticed that they seem lonely and we don’t know how to reach them. What do you recommend?"
DeWeese: "So, the first thing, I think, that’s important is to basically listen to (them,) ask questions to seek and understand how they are feeling, to validate those feelings and make sure that they know that those are normal feelings. But, also keep an eye on it and routinely check in with your youngster about how they are doing."
Garcia-Stewart: "Because you can’t see it, and because it doesn’t always look like a young person that may be physically depressed or physically withdrawn. We have students that are experiencing depression that look like they’re thriving."
Knute: "If parents can’t find a therapist on their own, is there anything that your school district can do to help, and do you have any other advice for parents?"
Porter: "I always recommend to our parents that they reach out to us and partner with us because we have some of the community relationships that we can leverage. Probably the thing I would say to parents is the most dangerous thing you can do is to think this won't be my kid that is struggling."
The full 40-minute conversation will be available on KSHB.com later Monday.
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We want to hear from you on what resources Kansas City families might benefit from to help us all through the pandemic. If you have five minutes, feel free to fill out this survey to help guide our coverage: KSHB COVID Survey.
