The U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new Advisory to address the urgent public health crisis of the mental health of children, adolescents, and young adults further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health outlines the pandemic’s unprecedented impacts on the mental health of America’s youth and families, as well as the mental health challenges that existed long before the pandemic.

The Advisory includes essential recommendations for the institutions that impact young people and shape their day-to-day lives (schools, community organizations, health care systems, technology companies, media. funders and foundations, employers, and government agencies). This Advisory highlights the important roles these institutions play in supporting the mental health of youth.

Top-line recommendations include:

• Recognize that mental health is an essential part of overall health.  
• Empower youth and their families to recognize, manage, and learn from difficult emotions.  
• Ensure that every child has access to high-quality, affordable, and culturally competent mental health care. 
• Support the mental health of children and youth in educational, community, and childcare settings. And expand and support the early childhood and education workforce.  
• Address the economic and social barriers that contribute to poor mental health for young people, families, and caregivers.
• Increase timely data collection and research to identify and respond to youth mental health needs more rapidly. This includes more research on the relationship between technology and youth mental health, and technology companies should be more transparent with data and algorithmic processes to enable this research.

Surgeon General's Advisories are public statements that call the American people's attention to a public health issue and provide recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are reserved for significant public health challenges that need the American people's immediate attention.

Read the full Surgeon General's Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health here.