HuddLUp Statement of Need
Our school-age children are in the midst of a devastating crisis in mental health and wellness. Children aged 3-17 are suffering from skyrocketing rates of depression and anxiety, and this dire picture has only worsened since the onset of the Covid pandemic.
Even before 2019, mental health challenges were the leading cause of disability and negative outcomes for our students. According to the US Surgeon General’s office, one in five children ages 3 – 17 are living with a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder. Between 2009 and 2019, the share of high school students who reported persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness increased by more than 40% to include fully one-third of that population. During that same time period, suicide ideation and planning increased by 44% and 57% respectively.
The Covid pandemic has only made matters worse. According to the Center for Disease Control’s Adolescence Behaviors and Experiences survey, in 2021 a full 44% of high school students felt sad or hopeless almost every day for at least two weeks in a row. Seventy percent of the 2,400 public schools participating in the national School Pulse Panel report an increase in the percentage of K-12 students seeking mental health services at school.
In response, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association declared in October 2021 that the pandemic-related decline in child and adolescent mental health has become a national emergency.
The US Surgeon General’s office followed In December 2022 with a series of recommendations and a stark warning: “The Covid pandemic further altered their experiences at home, school, and in the community, and the effect on their mental health has been devastating,” said Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. “The future wellbeing of our country depends on how we support and invest in the next generation.”
The advisory outlined a series of recommendations for the mental health care of students, including investments in mental health support services in schools, and the recognition of mental health as an essential element of overall health and wellbeing.
Across the country, from every sector, Americans recognize that our young people are in a mental health crisis. Huddlup is rising to meet that challenge.
HuddlUp occupies a unique space in the continuum of mental / behavioral health services. With its emphasis on mental wellness promotion, HuddlUp sets itself apart from other organizations, such as counseling centers and clinics, which tend to focus their services on treating mental health conditions, rather than preventing them in the first place. In this sense, there are very few organizations that have adopted the same approach as Huddlup, and none that offer programming directly in school classrooms.
On the other hand, there are many nonprofits that provide afterschool programming, and a growing number of organizations that provide social-emotional learning (SEL) classroom curriculum.
But unlike these organizations, HuddlUp works directly with teachers and students in the classroom, helping teachers gain the confidence to incorporate mental wellness activities into their classrooms. This delivery method is unlike any other mental / behavioral health program available, which helps explain the success of the Huddlup Classroom Model and its popularity among teachers and school administrators.
Because of the scale of the mental health crisis and the dire need for practical, evidence-based in-school programming, there is tremendous potential for Huddlup to expand its programmatic offerings and to scale up its Huddlup Classroom Model to serve even more schools in communities across the country.