Page 42 - BusinessWest April 14, 2021

“Kids are excited to go back and see their friends and have some sense of structure, to be in society again,” she told BusinessWest. “But there are definitely a lot of adjustments to be made.”
When COVID struck, she noted, the shifts were quick and unplanned — kids were suddenly learning at home, and many of their parents were suddenly working there. It has been a challenging time, particularly for working parents with young children who need help with school.
“Kids are excited to go back and see their friends and have some sense of structure, to be in society again. But there are definitely a lot of adjustments to be made.”
But transitioning back to whatever will pass for the new normal poses its own challenges, she said. “It was originally going to be two weeks, and weeks turned into months, and months became a year. Now, they’re going back out into a world that’s changed; it’s not going to be the same — there will be masks and social distancing and limitations on clubs and activities.”
Socially, certain young people — those with a more introverted personality — found they thrived in the remote setting, and are anxious about returning to campus, Burgess added. Oth- ers found the home setting to be an escape from
bullying, and are palpably fear- ful about going back.
Meanwhile, some students, depending on how rigorous their remote-learning experi- ence was, might find them- selves overwhelmed or feeling academically behind as teach- ers play catch-up. Many stu- dents report coasting to passing grades, even very good grades, while feeling they haven’t been learning much.
And the economic struggles affecting many families who lost income or jobs — a definite stressor on kids — certainly aren’t over.
Tamera Crenshaw, a clini-
cal psychologist and founder of
Tools for Success Counseling in
Longmeadow, said she’s espe-
cially passionate about mental
health in minority populations,
a demographic disproportion-
ately affected by mental-health
issues — because, again, those
issues tend to be exacerbated by factors like eco- nomic stress, which have also landed hard on those populations during COVID-19.
Even remote learning has been a greater prob- lem for communities of color because of issues of technological access and family strife over finan- cial matters, she added. “Home isn’t necessarily the most conducive learning environment — and COVID just exacerbated it.”
An uptick in suicidal ideation is especially
Tamera Crenshaw says barriers to accessing mental healthcare are myriad.
concerning, Crenshaw said. “Someone can have a baseline of thought, but when kids are actually expressing a plan or intent, it’s scary. And we’re definitely seeing an increase.”
Some of the factors are typical stressors on teens in any given year, but despondency has cer- tainly been driven by greater economic instability, which can raise tension and anxiety in the home, as well as two competing factors: a longing to end a year of isolation and get back to school, and health fears about the safety of doing so, especial-
42 APRIL 14, 2021
HEALTHCARE
Staff Photo
BusinessWest