Solving the Youth Wellbeing Challenge: A Coalition Recap

On Wednesday, July 16, the Coalition to Empower our Future (CEF) was proud to participate in Semafor’s Solving the Youth Wellbeing Challenge event, a powerful and timely convening at The Gallup Building in Washington, DC. The event, which was filled to standing-room-only and streamed live for an online audience, brought together a diverse set of leaders to address the urgent and growing challenge of youth mental health.

CEF Board Members January Contreras and Governor Steve Bullock led a panel discussion about the need to take a comprehensive approach as we work to solve the youth mental health challenge and ensure that diverse perspectives are part of conversations when thinking about solutions. The panel was moderated by Rachel Oppenheim, Semafor’s chief revenue officer.

“Let’s not just throw our hands up … let’s actually bring the people together, diverse voices, to figure out the best way to address the challenges.”  – Gov. Steve Bullock

“If you have 90 percent of parents saying they want some tools of practical guidance to help them navigate what’s happening with their own kids or kids in their communities…we really need to challenge ourselves and say this is an urgent moment. We need to meet the moment.” – January Contreras

The event included remarks from Senators Britt and Fetterman as well as speakers from PBS Kids, Whole Foods Market Foundation, Active Minds, Murmuration, Habitat for Humanity, YMCA, and R Street. These leaders discussed the multitude of factors that impact youth mental health, including housing, nutrition, relationships, education, opportunity and more.

Read the full conversation from Semafor’s Solving the Youth Wellbeing Challenge event below.

Rachel Oppenheim, chief revenue officer, Semafor

Thank you both so much for being here. I think just to start off, I’m just going to say a little bit to introduce these two incredible speakers today. Steve Bullock served as the 24th governor of Montana from 2013 to 2021 and as the Montana attorney general from 2009 to 2013. Prior to serving in public office, Bullock practiced law in Washington, DC and in Helena, Montana, worked as a lawyer for the Montana Department of Justice and the Montana secretary of state, but his most important role is husband to Lisa and father to Caroline, Alexandria and Cameron. What did we miss?

Steve Bullock, 24^th governor of Montana; board member, Coalition to Empower Our Future

You nailed it, everything that I could imagine.

Oppenheim

And January Contreras, the former assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, you elevated efforts to prevent and respond to family violence by creating the Office for Family Violence Prevention and Services, launched new tools to combat human trafficking and also prioritized the integration—importantly for this conversation—of mental health supports for youth and for their parents and caregivers. I know you and your husband are also grateful parents to two sons.

We’ve got some unbelievable experience, parents, a wide breadth of expertise and perspective. Thank you for joining us, and I know you’re here today very proudly representing the Coalition to Empower our Future, where you both serve on the board of directors. Just to start off, I’d love to hear you share a little bit about this coalition and also why you’re involved.

Bullock

You bet. And first, thank all of you for being here. This is a complex topic, and it’s such an important topic. When I was governor, not a day probably went by when I wouldn’t end up seeing a family who either had loved ones or friends or their own family struggling with mental health. And [I] was crushed at those times where, be it a youth suicide, or a child who was saying that, or you’d hear about [a] child that didn’t know what to do and where to go for health. And it can either just crush us, or it can inspire us to do more and figure out how we can do better; and that’s, I think, what the coalition is doing. What we’re doing is, we want to convene a diverse group of stakeholders to say, “Let’s really look at this.” What we can do, convening them, and we want to end up empowering youth, we want to empower parents, we want to empower communities to address and work on the same issues, actually, that you’re all hearing today. To say, let’s not just throw our hands up and say, “This is a big problem.” Let’s actually bring the people together, diverse voices, to start addressing the best way, or figuring out the best way, to address the challenges.

Oppenheim

And January, how did you become involved, and what does that role mean to you?

January Contreras, former assistant secretary, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; board member, Coalition to Empower our Future

When I served as the assistant secretary, I traveled the whole country: West Virginia, Chicago, California. Everywhere I went, it really didn’t matter what the conversation was supposed to be about or what the topic was; we always ended up with people bringing the most emotion to youth mental health. And so, the Coalition and its commitment to having a broad conversation that brings people to the table where we’re doing a lot of listening. I mean, it’s a lot of what are parents telling us? What are youth telling us? What are community members and partners and healthcare providers saying? And I appreciate that about it, because there are so many factors that are involved with the challenges that our youth are experiencing.

Oppenheim

And just to follow up there, what do you think, based on all of that exposure you had, in particular as the assistant secretary for children and families, what are the most significant factors? This is, of course, we’ve been chatting about this all morning. It’s a highly complex and multi-variable equation. What are the factors that arise for you based on what you’ve seen in your roles?

Contreras

Well, there are a lot of factors, and it’s important that we’re willing to do the hard work and dive in, because some of this requires long-term investment. So, if we look at the adverse childhood experiences, there has been research for decades. We know economic instability plays a role; if people are worried about their next meal, eviction; if they see their parents worried, stressed, dealing with anxiety, that comes into play; if there’s exposure to abuse or violence, or if there’s abuse to a young person themselves, of course; and then sometimes you have these big family shifts, whether that’s divorce or the loss of a family member. These are all adverse childhood experiences that are really rough and hard for a young person to shoulder. And on top of that, I have two young adult sons who were in high school during the pandemic. That was an extremely isolating event for our kids, and there are a lot of lingering consequences because of that. You have technology, you have overuse of devices and social media, you have peer pressure and bullying. I mean, all these things come into play, and for each child it’s different.

I think, if a kid in LA who’s an immigrant, their parents may be immigrants, or they’re in a mixed-status family, what kind of fear and anxiety are they experiencing right now? We look at the natural disasters, the flooding that’s happening, tornadoes, hurricanes, the family displacement and loss that comes with that. These are all things that come into play and make it really hard for a young person to just focus on what you want a young person to be able to do, to experience joy on a daily basis.

Oppenheim

This is a good segue. Governor Bullock, we cannot really talk about youth mental health without talking about parents. As a parent yourself, and given the work that you’ve done with the coalition, how are you thinking about the place where parents specifically fit into the equation?

Bullock

No, that’s right. And as January says, one of the things we’re doing is we’re really listening. Every parent has their own experiences. This isn’t some abstract policy issue; it’s important to me as a parent. I’ve never met a parent that doesn’t worry about their kids. And in the listening, what we’re hearing is parents all across the country are saying—I mean, palpable desperation—we need to do more, while at the same time, individually in our homes, we’re doing the best that we can. One of the surveys had eight of the 10 parents saying, “Let’s actually address the myriad of issues, look at it in a holistic way,” not just try to say, “Oh, it’s just phones and devices,” or “narrow versus broad.” We have to look broadly.

As January talked about, many of the sort of issues, or what parents see, they see bullying, they see drug and alcohol abuse, they see technology, they see isolation and loneliness, and the adverse childhood experiences or the sort of instability at home. And I think parents have to be at the table, just as kids do, just as people that are working [with kids]. And what we’re hearing time and time and time again from parents is they’re desperate [that] something gets done, and let’s actually look at all of the complexity of the issue. Let’s not try to say, “Okay, this will be an easy one to solve with one narrow focus.”

Oppenheim

A question to you both as public or former public officials who have worked extensively on these issues, I think we’ve heard across this stage and across these conversations about how just profoundly daunting it can be to make progress, to move the ball forward. Do you each have one piece of advice that you would give others who are formally working towards solutions in the arena [and] trying to make progress?

Contreras

I would say this is one of those issues—despite a polarized environment that is around us—there are issues where we can come together, and I think that is often truest when it comes to our kids. And this is a moment, I think, where we can and where we need to, no matter where someone is on the political spectrum, come together, look at what these very real issues are. How do we tackle them? And then how do we put these resources within the reach of parents? If you have research saying 94 percent of parents want some tools, some practical guidance to help them navigate what’s happening with their own kids, or kids in their community, we really, really need to challenge ourselves and say, “This is an urgent moment,” and we need to meet the moment.

Oppenheim

I like that concept around practical tools. Governor Bullock?

Bullock

My ray of optimism is [that] my kids are more comfortable talking about mental health than any generation before. I think we’re in this unique moment where, I’ll be darned if policy makers in our states and in D.C. are finally taking notice, and they recognize what was once an issue that you couldn’t even talk about is now an issue that we have to address. So, the one piece of advice I’d have for, no matter what folks want to do, is let’s take this moment, and let’s make sure we see the whole forest through the trees as we’re wading through this. And let’s actually work to solve. Not just say, “Okay, we’re going to put band aids,” but let’s actually work to solve, grab the moment that we have, bring the stakeholders together as we’re trying to do, listen and make sure that we address this in a holistic way with everybody’s goal being the same; that every kid out there needs to have that support and the services and the opportunities that we want for our own children.

Oppenheim

That’s great. Well, just a final question for you both. Of course, the consequences are incredibly high. This is an incredibly important issue for every family across the U.S. It’s clear that there are so many different perspectives that need to be incorporated. Are there certain lenses on this that you have found to be particularly profound or unique? Or how do you think about just that diversity of perspectives that need to be brought to the table as you work to forge solutions?

Contreras

Well, I think you start with youth, right? I think one of the partners to the coalition is the Coalition for Student Wellbeing. These are young leaders who stepped up to say, “We need to be a part of the solution.” I think some of those advocates are in the room today. And so, youth and parents, educators, healthcare providers, these are all just important parts of the conversation, so that, again, we’re hearing, we’re lifting up all those voices, and they are all informing [the solutions] that are needed here.

Bullock

I always found the best policy would be made when first I’d listen, recognize what I don’t know, and bring the people around, diverse voices that actually do know things. As January said, God, our kids know this stuff better than we ever will. Let’s actually listen to them. Let’s listen to those folks in the communities on the ground, providing services each and every day. Let’s listen to families and parents. And in a time where there’s so much challenges, like it was great seeing those two senators up here.

Oppenheim

It was powerful.

Bullock

Yeah, but in a time that there’s so many challenges and divisiveness, like this is one thing that we can get right if we actually do it in a holistic and fulsome way.

Oppenheim

Well, a tremendous thank you for the work you both are doing on this issue and for being here today.