THE URGENT DILEMMA OF OUR DISCONNECTED YOUTH

The Decline of Connection and Youth Mental Health, and the Need for a Powerful New Solution

YOUNG PEOPLE ARE STRUGGLING WITH CONNECTION

Young people spend 50% less time engaged in face-to-face interactions compared to 15-20 years ago. This disconnection is a major contributor to the youth mental health crisis, with alarming trends:

  • More than half of teen girls report persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness.
  • Suicide among males ages 10 to 24 has risen over 60% in recent years.
  • Youth in the U.S. report lower happiness and well-being than any other age group, a stark contrast to historical trends and to the expectation that youth are happier.
  • Young adults are experiencing historically high levels of loneliness, with 30% saying they are lonely every day or several times a week.

TRENDS AND PROJECTIONS FOR THE UP AND COMING GENERATION

The current trajectories are troubling. Since 2009, more than twice as many 15- to 19-year-old girls have been admitted to U.S. emergency rooms for self-harm. Even more shocking, five times more 10- to 14-year-old girls were admitted to the ER for self-harm in 2022 than 2009.

The patterns of disconnection can have lifelong implications. As recently as 1980, only 5% of adults never married. Projections now show that distressing numbers of todays 20-year-olds will never marry, including one-third in the U.S. and nearly half in the U.K. This is highly concerning for the well-being of our society.

And there is a looming threat of even more human disconnection for our young people with the emergence of AI companions. Some surveys of young adults indicate that one in three respondents would consider AI as a romantic partner. Since human connection is critical to every major area of well-being, the consequences of real human relationships being replaced by AI are life altering-and in some cases, without intervention, irreversible.

Adolescent Girls ER Visits for Self-Harm

FILLING THE SOLUTION GAP

To address this gap in services for disconnected young people, our nonprofit, WeYouth, spent over four years in collaboration with youth clinicians, educators, and scientists to develp a groundbreaking new resource: Connection Coaching.

In this unique model, two skilled coaches–one older with life experience and training, and one near-peer with relatibility–lead personalized sessions that help young people identify strategies they can use to strengthen the relationships most important to them. Sessions are 45-50 minutes in duration and occur weekly for one to three months.

GAP IN SOLUTIONS

To make matters worse, there are currently no adequate targeted services to help young people improve their connections with others. Using a -10 to +10 scale of functioning, therapy may be helpful for those who are in the more problematic range, but there is a dearth of services for those who could use help with mild to moderate connection struggles.

IMPRESSIVE TEST RESULTS

WeYouth is taking a stand for youth. We believe the negative trends of disconnection can be changed and even reversed. We believe young people are capable of becoming better at connection than any prior generation.

JOIN THE CAUSE

WeYouth engages in several strategies to improve connection for young people, and our cornerstone project is Connection Coaching. We have proven that it works, that it appeals to young people, and that it is scalable. But we need help to reach more young people, and to further demonstrate Connection Coaching’s growth potential and sustainability.

Our vision is for Connection Coaching to be available to young people in any community around the United States and eventually the world. The task is daunting, but the urgent needs of young people require us to be fearless.