Community Conversations: COVID-19 Impact on Children’s Mental Health

View previous in the series: Shifts in Attitudes Toward Mental Health

At the Medical College of Wisconsin, the health of our Milwaukee-area community is at the heart of everything we do. This focus on Milwaukee is the driving force behind Community Conversations, a new series of critical discussions on health reflecting a diversity of experiences.

This first series of Community Conversations features Milwaukee voices in candid conversation on all things mental health. Hear the perspectives of medical experts and providers, community leaders and those who have dealt with mental health challenges personally as they discuss the realities of mental health and healing in the face of the challenges facing our society today. Community Conversations: Mental Health aims to showcase the experiences of Milwaukee area residents, and amplify their voices to tell their stories in their own words.

The unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated already profound issues of youth mental health in the United States. Disruptions in social development and widespread feelings of isolation and grief have upended the stability of life for many young people of all backgrounds, compounding ongoing issues of anxiety and depression that have become a challenge for families, schools and health care providers alike. Join Messmer High School Associate Principal Abby Demeter and psychiatrist Dr. Erica M. Arrington of the Medical College of Wisconsin as they discuss how the life changes young people have experienced during the pandemic can act as stressors with deep effects on mental health, and what adults in the lives of young people can do to support and talk about youth mental health in the face of these challenges.

Mental Health Resources

• Children's Wisconsin Mental and Behavioral Health Care
• Milwaukee County Health & Human Services Children's and Youth Services
• Wisconsin Child Psychiatry Consultation Program
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Youth Mental Health

View previous in the series: Shifts in Attitudes Toward Mental Health