KENTUCKY — This week we’re talking about back to school in the Commonwealth. And, while usually the return of a new school year is an exciting time for most, it’s also important to recognize that change, even good change, can sometimes be challenging for kids and can cause back to school stress and mental health struggles for some.

In the 2021-22 academic year, 76% of public schools in the country reported increased concerns around students showing symptoms of anxiety, depression and trauma, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. And only about half the schools said they were equipped to address students' mental health needs.

During this In Focus Kentucky segment, Tiara Holt joins the program. She's a holistic-based Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and Supervisor, an EMDR trained therapist, and owner of Healing Essence Counseling & Wellness. Her experience includes working with children, adolescents and adults in the school-based, community based, & in office settings. 

"For everything that has happened since the dawn of the pandemic, there was already you know, life transitions, struggles, little "T" traumas, if you will. So those are things like divorce or unplanned events. And then here's this big T trauma. pandemic that comes along and completely switches up the way that we know life to be," explains Holt.

As students and families continue along with the new school year, Holt shares these signs to look for in school aged kids who may be experiencing a mental health crisis:

"I want to break that down into thinking and cognitive functioning, feeling and behavior. So when we're looking at symptoms of mental health disruption, we're looking at difficulty concentrating problems. With memory retention, struggling to make decisions, storing processing time, all of those things, which unfortunately can be misdiagnosed. Over diagnosed ADHD is one of those things that I saw when I worked in the school based setting. And when we talk about feelings or emotional disturbances, we're looking at mood swings, numbness, irritability, apprehensiveness and depression which can look like sleeping more, avoiding people or isolating from friends groups, not really wanting to participate in things that the kids normally desire to," adds Holt.

You can watch the full In Focus segment in the player above.