The last three years had an effect on their mental health from being in isolation for such a long time, to being pulled in and out of school, we know that kids and youth have not been able to develop the coping skills that they normally would have by their age.”
– Karla Heinz, manager of children and youth initiatives for United Way of Calgary and Area
Over the last 100 years, generations of young people have been impacted by the events of their times. The Great Depression, world wars, the civil rights movement, rapid advancements in technology, and 9/11, to name a few, have shaped the way kids have grown up and lived their adult lives.
Particularly during the heart of the pandemic, COVID-19 impacted youth in ways that educators, experts, caregivers, and parents are only now beginning to realize. As we return to the office and resume our social and around-work lives, and as students are back to in-person classes and extracurricular activities, it’s easy to think that things are “back to normal.” But for a generation of young people surfacing from almost three years of pandemic-related social isolation, false starts and unpredictability, their lives, thoughts, feelings, and learning experiences have been far from ordinary. In fact, the pandemic has rendered the concept of “normal” largely irrelevant and while necessary to prevent the spread of COVID and protect vulnerable people, the pandemic lockdowns negatively affected the mental health of youth and children.
United Way of Calgary and Area’s youth-serving partner agencies are seeing significant gaps in educational, social, and emotional learning caused by the pandemic.
“The last three years had an effect on their mental health,” says Karla Heinz, manager of Children and Youth Initiatives for United Way of Calgary and Area. “From being in isolation for such a long time, to being pulled in and out of school, we know that kids and youth have not been able to develop the coping skills that they normally would have by their age. Instead, we are seeing other behavioral responses, in the form of not being able to regulate their emotions. When you put children and youth in a group with other young people they become easily stressed; there’s a lot of anxiety because it’s something new for them.”
Since 2012, United Way’s All In for Youth initiative has been applying innovative solutions, to help youth successfully complete high school and transition into adulthood. Trellis is a community partner in AIFY, and works diligently to provide Success Coaches for AIFY and counselling for students of all ages in the Calgary school system. Amelia Larson, director of Clinical Practice at Trellis, says that she saw anxiety levels build early in the pandemic and carry over into the current school year.
“We’ve seen a huge increase, from the clinical side, in anxiety in youth and we anecdotally contribute that to the anxiety of not knowing,” says Larson. “Am I going to school tomorrow? Is my family getting sick? Am I going to be online? Can we get toilet paper from the grocery store? What’s going on with these germs? And then closely tied to that is depression from being separated and isolated. What is normal? Where is there hope?”
During the pandemic, the sudden flood of thousands of students to online learning also created a havoc of its own. The isolation, frustrations with outdated technology, a lack of technological skills, or sharing a device across an entire household compounded anxiety for many young people.
“We were shut down for our gatherings, feasts, and round dances, and that really impacted our community. We were really missing each other, but we also were understanding that we had to keep each other safe. So if you were using or accessing ceremony or sweat lodges, it was hard to do unless your family practiced. But not everyone has those types of relationships or connections to community.”
– Meghan Finnbogason, program lead developer, Planet Youth
Meghan Finnbogason is a program lead developer for Indigenous youth through her work with Planet Youth Calgary and Diamond Willow Youth Lodge, an initiative offered through Miskanawah. Diamond Willow Youth Lodge provides a space for Indigenous youth to gather, make new friends, and access services and technology often not available at home. Finnbogason saw the gaps in accessibility to online programming, coupled with an inability to access physical community spaces directly impact youths’ mental health.
“It can be a barrier for our young people if they don’t have access to a phone or to laptops. Especially when programs and services, such as those offered through Miskanawah, are shut down. That really isolated them and impacted their mental health pretty severely, especially if they were struggling with depression and anxiety.”
Finnbogason says those technical and physical barriers made it difficult for youth to create and maintain cultural connections.
“We were shut down for our gatherings, feasts, and round dances, and that really impacted our community,” she adds. “We were really missing each other, but we also were understanding that we had to keep each other safe. So if you were using or accessing ceremony or sweat lodges, it was hard to do unless your family practiced. But not everyone has those types of relationships or connections to community.”
While young people, for the most part, were not as susceptible to the physical strains of COVID, they bore the brunt of the psychological and emotional downsides of the pandemic; the uncertainty, fear, and panic. A study that examined data from 80,000 youth around the world found depression and anxiety symptoms doubled compared to pre-pandemic times. For the team at Trellis, Larson says they are seeing the isolation, anxiety, fear, and depression creating a significant gap in social and emotional learning. “I will say the lack of interpersonal skills is huge right now…there is an inability to self-regulate in a typical school setting because you haven’t practiced that after being at home for the larger part of two years. Trying to regulate in a very different environment than home, where there might be 400 other kids around you in the lunchroom, means we are seeing lots of outbursts of behavior from children just not being able to sort of contain themselves.”
Terry Baustad is the principal of Ian Bazalgette School for grades 6-9, located in Forest Lawn. Their staff is witnessing the stress first-hand and sees it directly impacting educational learning.
“When the drama hits, they’re quick to get to the emotional piece. So, we’ve had to do quite a bit of calming down, lots of talks. We have a full-time resource teacher here who spends a significant amount of her day just working kids through the social and emotional piece. There’s no learning. When someone’s dysregulated in that way, there’s no learning happening.”
“Our coaches will go in and support while they can and with whom they can.” – Jamie Rach, manager, All In for Youth
Social dysregulation can create even more difficulty in large group settings. Jamie Rach is a manager with AIFY. AIFY’s Success Coaches are in schools across Calgary, providing reliable support and mentorship daily to AIFY participants. Rach notes that she and her colleagues find the sheer volume of post-pandemic depression and anxiety daunting.
“The group contagion effect is so real. When a student is dysregulated – and that’s observed by someone else who might experience similar trauma – it starts to spread. It just blows up and our team members in schools don’t have capacity to therapeutically de-escalate that. Our coaches will go in and support while they can and with whom they can…that group contagion is real.”
Emotional turmoil is certainly a factor in the learning capabilities of students. A 2022 survey from The Alberta Schools Councils Association shows that over 60% of parents say they are concerned about learning gaps in their children’s education because of the necessary disruptions to protect public health. Principal Baustad believes declining mental health is compounded by socioeconomic difficulties in local communities.
“The learning gaps, especially for our grade sixes, are significant. Our data has shown there are significant gaps in the learning for those students, particularly around literacy. So, when we talk about a community like we have at Ian Bazalgette – the complexity of our demographics – we wonder about how much support students had in regard to engaging in the literacy in the world beyond the school and, how many of our students were left to their own devices. We have a significant number of students who are three grades below in their reading from where they should be.”
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that there are no simple solutions to the negative impacts caused by isolation and loss of connection. But at United Way of Calgary and Area, we’re working with our partner agencies to develop a pathway to success for kids of all ages to grow and succeed. Initiatives like All In for Youth provide guidance and support for students to complete school and successfully transition to adulthood. Community Hubs offer local spaces for youth to gather, learn, and create. And programs like Diamond Willow Youth Lodge provide a safe environment to find cultural support, self-discovery, and positive connection.
Throughout 2023, we intend to help young people understand and navigate these difficult times. With your support, and our connections to networks of care and support, Calgary’s children and youth can come out the other side of the pandemic, ready to experience a brighter, happier, and more successful tomorrow.
Child mental health in the wake of the pandemic has been identified as a major issue by our community partners. In the coming weeks and months, we will be exploring more facets of this issue to shine a light on the problem, but to also discuss the solutions.