Adolescents are struggling with mental health challenges now more than ever, according to data from the most recent Island County Healthy Youth Survey.

Administered to more than 1,700 students in the fall of 2021, the survey illuminates areas of concern, from drug use to bullying to mental health.

Concerns about mental health problems in youth have evoked a sense of urgency among county leaders recently. According to the data, 54% of high school seniors on Whidbey Island reported feeling so sad or hopeless for two weeks or more that they stopped doing their usual activities, compared to the state average of 45%.

Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon called this statistic one of the scariest things she’s seen during her time as commissioner. A segment of the 2021 survey on mental health was presented during the county’s most recent Board of Health meeting.

Combining this data with the stark reality that the county has fewer mental health treatment facilities and providers compared to the state, Bacon called the situation an emergency. She asked her fellow commissioner Jill Johnson, who serves as the chairperson of the Board of Health, to schedule a meeting with the school superintendents in Island County to discuss these frightening circumstances.

With mounting isolation and fewer activities available for teens over the last few years, the pandemic has no doubt had its impact on them.

“Those COVID years were not good for those younger kids,” Johnson said during the meeting. “I mean, that is something that has to get owned in that COVID story and reflection, is we did a great job with the virus and we sacrificed a lot of kids.”

The survey found that these dismal feelings have significantly increased across all grade levels over the past few years. In 2016, for example, only 24% of eighth graders in the county who were surveyed reported feeling sad or hopeless. In 2018, that number was 36% and in 2021 it was 44%.

In addition, the percentage of eighth graders considering suicide is also on the rise, from 14% in 2016 to 22% in 2018 to 28% in 2021. The 2021 survey also found that 27% of eighth graders have made a suicide plan in the past year, and 15% attempted suicide in the past year.

For more information about the 2021 Island County Healthy Youth Survey, visit islandcountywa.gov/Health/Pages/board.aspx.