Central Florida Teens Experiencing Mental Health Crisis
Last week, three students in the Seminole County School District committed suicide.
CDC data shows that in 2023, nearly forty percent of high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. The same report indicates twenty percent of students seriously considered suicide with ten percent actually making an attempt.
There are many organizations addressing this by making available many resources for teens experiencing mental distress – or simply looking for a mental respite. Ali’s Hope in Altamonte Springs is one of those organizations. The non-profit seeks to improve the quality of life for adolescents and young adults living with mental health concerns through education, support and advocacy.
Ali’s Hope is named for Alison Gallagher, a Lyman High School graduate who took her own life in 2007. Her mother and father founded the organization after her passing to help make sure teens and families don’t have to share in their experience.
Her father Joe Gallagher joined ENGAGE to share Alison’s Story.
What Joe Gallagher was build Ali’s Way to help other families. One of their initiatives is the creation of “Hope Hubs” in schools – safe spaces where students can relax, decompress, talk with others and even produce a podcast.
One of the drivers of teen depression is social media. The 24-7 all-access and anonymous nature of platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook create a never-ending cascade of negative-feedback loops – so much so that last year, the state’s legislature passed House Bill 3 prohibiting teens from establishing social media accounts for teens . . . a federal judge put a temporary hold on the law’s enforcement in June due to First Amendment issues.
Marni Stahlman is the president and CEO of the Mental Health Association of Central Florida – and she sees the direct correlation between social media and cell phone usage and the mental health of children as young as 9. Stahlman explained to ENGAGE why she feels HB 3 is a step in the right direction.
Another non-profit is addressing the teen mental health crisis through collaboration: Project Overdose is well known for its advocacy for addiction treatment and mental health access . . . we spoke with them last year about expanding access to Narcan to prevent opioid deaths. This week, they partnered with former Florida State Representative Dick Batchelor to introduce Breaking Thu – an initiative focused specifically on the mental health of GenZ and Gen Alpha – essentially people under thirty that were born into social media and the internet.
On Monday of this week, Dick Batchelor and Project Overdose held a roundtable discussion at Orlando’s Citrus Club looking at ways to engage these generational cohorts and normalize and de-stigmatize mental health care. On Tuesday, Batchelor and Project Overdose’s Amy Armstrong joined ENGAGE in studio to talk about how the Breaking Thru initiative will connect with the communities of Central Florida.
Florida’s Three Year Economic Outlook
Americans will be going into the holiday season with a dose of economic uncertainty as consumers wait to see the impacts of federal policies involving import tariffs, immigration policies and the current government shutdown. Locally, trending is showing growth with distant red flags that include a growing consumer debt bubble and housing costs that show no signs of cooling.
The release of the 2025 to 2028 Florida and Metro Forecast by UCF’s Institute for Economic Forecasting couldn’t have been better timed. Sean Snaith is the director of the institute and the author of the forecast – he joined ENGAGE to parse out his predictions for the coming years in Central Florida.
The Bracket Brothers Takeover SAK
If the internet has taught us anything, it’s that people LOVE to rank things and argue their value. Think the never-ending clickbait listicles that clutter our social media feeds. How many times you’ve argued with friends about the greatest drum solo ever, the best major league bull pen of the modern era or which Real Housewife is the witchiest.
Brothers Sean and Pat Rice relocated to Orlando from Suburban Philadelphia 12 years ago to work behind the scenes at Universal and Disney. During the COVID lockdowns, boredom drove them to develop a game to play during Zoom meet-ups: Build a playoff bracket – like you see during the NCAA march madness basketball tournaments – pick a random topic and start filling in the brackets. Then let the participants argue their picks through playoff rounds until a winner is determined. The Bracket Brothers joined Engage to talk about their Halloween show at the SAK Comedy Lab.
