COLORADO SPRINGS — News5 wanted to gauge how some young people are truly doing, mentally, in our community.
There are feelings of loneliness, frustration and stress from two high school students News5's Lindsey Jensen spoke with.
A junior high school counselor said a lot of kids need help navigating social and academic anxiety right now.
More than a fifth of high school students reported their stress levels were not manageable most days in 2023, according to theColorado's Healthy Kids Survey.
People can call or text 988 for free and confidential mental health support.
"I'm not really coping right now, I'm kind of just existing," said Alex Welty.
Welty is struggling with his parents' divorce and transferring to online school his sophomore year.
"School is really hard because I suffer from really bad OCD, and that's kind of like flaring up quite a bit because of the other situation," said Welty.
Welty is trying to manage his frustration by making art and talking to a therapist.
"Back in March, I ended up trying to hurt myself, so like that was pretty much like the point where my dad was like, alright, we're getting you something," said Welty.
As a senior, Sierra Buah, is dealing with some stress of her future's uncertainty.
"There's always that kind of worry in the back of my mind of, like, how life is going to be once I'm out of the house and kind of doing stuff on my own," said Buah. "Trying to stay hopeful about it, so that I'm not too overwhelmed and depressed about it."
Buah told me it has been hard to connect with people like her since she was small; feeling isolated.
"I'm a bit lonely at my school, just kind of due to the lack of diversity and stuff and just how there's a concentrated group of people there and I don't necessarily fit that," said Buah.
Buah said she's still trying to find ways to cope with her stress. "I've kind of realized that, like, going outside is really helpful and also just taking the time to just spend time by myself and just like, do nothing."
Widefield School District Three junior high school counselor, Jennifer Donato, said societal pressure is taking a mental toll on more kids.
"They are very fragile right now, we've got teenagers, they don't know who they are, they're trying to figure out who they are and the world's trying to tell them you should be this and you should be that," said Donato.
Donato recommends disconnecting from social media and leaning on friends and family. "When parents are having those conversations with their kiddos, being involved, asking questions, spending time with them, they're really building their students' competence and their confidence."
Welty and Buah said their generation is more open to talking about mental health, which is why they said they were willing to be vulnerable with me.
"Me being able to finally explain like this isn't something wrong with me, I guess," said Welty. "OCD is much more common than you think so it's kind of like letting people know it's alright."
"As long as we find spaces for everybody to come together and talk about mental health and how it's been for them, I think that's how we're going to get better and how everyone's probably going to be happier," said Buah.
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