Commonwealth Beacon: The Youth Mental Health Crisis is Taking a Hidden Toll on Parents

Luba Falk Feigenberg, EdD, Senior Consultant at William James College's Center for Behavioral Health, Equity and Leadership in Schools (BHELS), authored a powerful commentary in the Commonwealth Beacon on the hidden toll of the youth mental health crisis on parents. 

In the commentary, Falk Feigenberg shares her personal experience as a parent supporting her teenager struggling with mental health challenges. She describes a feeling of helplessness and names parents as "invisible first responders in this epidemic" who need support, too.

Below is an excerpt:

"The Surgeon General’s recent advisory warned that parental stress levels have reached a crisis point. In May, a Massachusetts poll conducted for the Education Trust by the MassINC Polling Group found that nearly half of parents in the state are deeply concerned about their children’s mental health. Yet the current system is overly focused on the child in crisis, often neglecting the parents’ wellbeing."

The call to action is clear. "To address the crisis effectively, we need a system approach that recognizes parents as individuals in need of support, not just caregivers for the their children." Falk Feigenberg shares one simple way to enact this— start conversations with "How are you holding up?" She also recommends a parent wellness check at each session.

Falk Feinberg is a faculty member in the Graduate Certificate in Leading Transformative Mental Health in Schools in the Organizational and Leadership Psychology Department. Her area of expertise includes school climate and social emotional learning; research and program evaluation; mental health and education integration; and systems change. Her prior professional leadership and work experience includes Research Director for the Making Caring Common project at Harvard Graduate School of Education; Executive Director of Child Development, YMCA of Greater Boston; and Assistant Director, Boston Children's Hospital Neighborhood Partnership Program. She is the Founder of Reframe Evaluation, where she helps nonprofit organizations better tell the story of their work through evaluation strategy, research design, and systems-building. She received her EdD and EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Read the full opinion piece here. 

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