>> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what's happening in washington. live and on demand. keep up with today's biggest events with live screens and floor proceedings from u.s. congress, white house events, campaigns and more from the world of politics, all at your finger tips. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of "washington journal" and find scheduling information for c-span's tv networks and c-span radio, plus a variety of podcasts. c-span now is available at the apple store, google play. download it for free today. c-span now, your front row seat to washington any time, anywhere. a conversation on menl health with hannah wesolowski. she is an officer with the national alliance on mental illness. ms. wesolowski i want to start

with a world health organization briefing for last month. this is the headline. covid-19 pandemic triggers a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. where do you think we stand today more than two years into the pandemic? what are your biggest concerns? guest: two years into the pandemic these stressors americans have experienced has exploded the mental health crisis. as we look at the pandemic and other things getting back to normal the mental health crisis is ongoing. during the pandemic two times the rate of americans were experiencing exotic and depression. we look at youth and young adults, their lives have been disrupted. we are seeing high rates of

anxiety and depression in teens. we are seeing increased rates of suicide attempts. it is concerning. there is going to be -- we were in the midst of a mental health epidemic prior to covid-19. now as we are starting to emerge from that we are grappling with the mental health impacts of this. people's lives have been turned over. they have lost loved ones. they have lost jobs. their social and actions were strained. they were worried about things. we are concerned about what this is going to look like and whether we can serve needs. host: that w.h.o. report, the sub headline the numbers of findings are a wake up call to all countries to step up their

mental health services. focusing on the u.s., have those services stepped up? have we prioritized mental health as much as we have prioritized hospital beds being open, providing respirators, the physical health? guest: before the pandemic no. we are seeing a rapid increase in scale of mental health services in the last year or two. the covid-19 relief packages there were package for mental health. more spending for mental health than we have ever seen. but what the rate that demand is growing we do not have the workforce to provide the services that are needed, treatment that is needed. we have so much catching up to do from decades of underinvestment in mental

health. now the demand is through the roof you can only scale up so much in a short time. we are playing catch-up. while growth in spending for mental health is helpful we need a massive influx and development of mental health infrastructure. it has been a hodgepodge. it has been inequitable in certain areas of the country. we are facing a shortage of services to help people. host: more spending on mental health and we have seen. has it been dollars ball spin? what has been the best investment you have seen the paschal years? guest: there have been a variety of investments. we are seeing more investments in workforce programs. we need to scale up our workforce to serve people.

that has been an important investment and something we will need to invest in long-term. looking at paraprofessional, peer support specialist that is something that is needed to help fill the gap, for providers in the mental health. -- mental health space. something else, that is been a development during the pandemic is the arrival of 988 and nationwide three digit number that everyone can dial like 911 two access suicide and mental health services to her -- to connect with trained counselors. we are seeing more investments in the national suicide prevention lifeline which is serving as the basis of that 988 network. which is needed. we need more but we are seeing a rapid scale up of the services.

that is something everyone can access. that is one of the most important things. if we resource that appropriately that can have a permanent impact on the mental health in this country. the ability for people to connect with crisis services when they need them and get a mental health response to a crisis. host: hannah wesolowski is our guest. we are talking about mental health programs. phone lines split up regionally. if you want to join the conversation (202) 748-8000 in the eastern or central time zones. (202) 748-8001 if you are in the mountain or pacific time zones. hannah wesolowski the national alliance on mental illness. remind viewers what your group does. guest: our mission is to build communities that care. to help individuals and families

that are living with mental health conditions to get connected to support, education. to increase awareness in the country and advocacy around mental health so everyone can get connected to the support and treatment they need to get well and stay well. we are a nationwide network. the largest health organizationally the country with over 600 chapters. we are likely in a community near you. we are resource to help. host: you mentioned the findings amongst young people. this from pew research center. ac/dc survey found 37% u.s. high school students reported regular mental health struggles during covid-19. where were we when it came to that stat before covid?

explain how much of an explosion we have seen among our young people. guest: when we look at teenagers we are seeing a rapid increase. looking at emergency department visits that were likely suicide attempts during the first year of the pandemic. those increased between self and 10 -- 17-year-olds by 30%. a 30% increase in teens making a suicide attempt. among youth who died in the u.s. more than a quarter are suicide related. it is the second leading cause in death ages 10 to 24. we are seeing a rapid increase during the pandemic of the suicide attempts. youth who feel like they are trapped or there is no hope or they are disconnected from

friends or relying more on social networks that may be a venue for bullying. there are so many factors interpreting to this. we look at lgbtq youth and the rates of suicidal ideation among that population is much higher than the general population. any do not have access to safe spaces. we were concerned about the health prices prior to the pandemic but we are seeing these rates of anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions increase over the last two years . we saw the surgeon general put out a report last year about the use mental health crisis. the american academy of pediatrics children's hospital association and american academy of child eyes left -- i do

listen to nate psychiatry put out an emergency declaration about the youth mental health prices last year. we are in a dire situation and need to connect with our kids more quickly and provide them with services, the education, the support they need to make it through these times. guest: website you can take a look at mental health programs during the biden administration's the $1 billion for the proposed school-based health professionals program. what is that? guest: where our kids every day? they go to school.

that is a place to me kids when they are. but we don't have enough little health professionals to provide services in school. the biden administration proposal to scale up school mental health services making sure there are more mental health providers in the school, social workers, counselors. make sure the ratios are macrolevel as more equitable. is what that program is focused on. to provide that care and support to kids where they are. it is teachers and peers who are in a good position to identify that something may be changing with a child. that they may be struggling. having these services available, working with parents to connect these kids to the help they need is important. investing in that and make sure

schools have those resources. often counselors are serving what will schools. how can those counselors help kids when they are doing with hundreds of them? they cannot get to know them. they cannot help them. this is about scaling up the number of professionals working in the school system as well as making sure more services are available. host: connecting our previous conversation about twitter to -- and social media to this conversation do not lookup party rights on twitter. social media is ruining the mental health are you and billionaires will not fix that. a much should they be on social media? what would you tell parents about moderating that use? guest: we need more research and data to know the impact. social media is a double-edged sword. it can be detrimental but it can also provide a community to kids.

our colleagues at the trevor project to great research on lgbtq youth 12 and found many lgbtq youth found social media difficult but also beneficial. it is about talking to your kids about what to say. who they should be connecting with, and trying to provide safe spaces to your children but having those open conversations is the best defense you have right now. we need more research. understand the impact and how we can best help children manage. something many of us adults do not have to think about we were going through those years of our life. we know there is benefit. we know there is harm. it is trying to strike that balance. host: we mentioned that fiscal

2023 budget request. there is a lot of focus on the ministrations budget request this week on capital bill. $2.1 billion requested for the national institute of mental health includes $10 million to support the national is to do mental health. the impact of social media on mental health and inform treatments included in that list of programs what is in the presence budget request he can find it on the website. you can call in to ask questions. as leah did in washington. caller: i had some of these problems as a child started when i was seven. i am 54 now. i suffer from depression, anxiety and ptsd and suicidality. i've had trouble for the last

five months finding a therapist. one of my therapists went to an addiction specialty and that is not one of my problems. it took me more than five months to find someone. i have an appointment tomorrow with someone. it is going to be weekly. but it is dangerous for someone like me to not have a therapist to work with. guest: thank you for sharing your experience. i wish i could say that is a rare struggle that people have in finding a provider. unfortunately that is too common. nearly 150 million people live in a mental health provider shortage area. we have a gap in making sure there are no providers to help people.

even when you can find them finding somebody who takes your insurance provides more provocation. there are such high out-of-pocket cost to getting mental health care. it is not fair. it is not how we treat other health conditions. we need more providers. we need more -- better coverage. need to make sure we have more in network providers to reduce the end -- out-of-pocket cost so that mental health care can be attainable for everyone. we need to maintain her mental health and have access to mental health professionals to support us. host: atopic -- a topic we have talked about through covid's burnout among doctors dj -- and emergency room nurses. it is an issue hospitals are experiencing. i wonder, during covid have we seen a burnout issue?

people leaving the profession saying it is too much? guest: it is a concern. we have seen burnout for all health professionals. you think about frontline health professionals. burnout is a major concern. how we address that is going to be a struggle. the number of people who need to talk to a therapist, a counselor, a psychologist, they are stretched thin trying to meet the demand. i came to people about heavy things. -- talking to people about heavy things. the burnout concern is enormous. we cannot afford to lose the workforce we hav [captioning performed by thenat, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions py