There is no way to sugar coat it. These are difficult times to live in Los Angeles.

Over the past few years, an unprecedented number of stressors have gathered around us. Record drought and heat waves.of alarming rise in hate crimes, Especially for Asian, Black and LGBTQ residents. and the lingering effects of many of the devastating global pandemics.

Our children suffer in and because of these adversities. in California, Anxiety and depression rates analysis shows that from 2016 to 2020, the proportion of young people increased by 70%. Annie E. Casey Foundation. The California Department of Public Health reports that youth suicide rates increased 20% from 2019 to 2020.

The pandemic and distance learning have also wreaked havoc on education. At the beginning of the school year he lost 20,000 LA Unified students. Most recently, the district reported that 72% of his students did not meet state standards in math and about 58% fell behind in English, reversing five years of progress. . Black and Latinx students were particularly affected, as well as girls.

An oak fire burns in Mariposa County, California, and the flames engulf the chairs inside the house.

(Noah Berger/Associated Press)

Just thinking about each of these challenges is heart-pounding. Confronting it all at once is almost unbearable.

“One of the biggest threats to our mental health is that there are not just one, but two or three biggest threats,” said Lisa Wong, acting director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. “Perhaps the biggest threat is that it feels like it’s coming at you from all directions.”

Anyone feeling like they’re drowning?

We are not all suffering in the same way, but no one is immune to these extraordinary times.

This year, Los Angeles County Quality of Life Indexan annual survey measuring the satisfaction with life of the Angelenos, dropped 5 points compared to last year. With a score of 53 out of 100, it was the lowest score since UCLA began his survey in 2016.

The 1,400 respondents, representing a cross-section of the county’s population, expressed increasing dissatisfaction in all nine categories included in the survey. The biggest drops were seen in cost of living, transportation, public safety and the economy.

UCLA professor and former city councilor Zev Yaroslavsky, who oversaw the project, said: “There is an unprecedented level of anxiety here in my life.”

Tentacles formed by the ebb and flow of the tide engrave the mud of the Colorado River Delta in Ejido Indiviso, Baja California.

(Brian van der Burg/Los Angeles Times)

how to save a life

Pandemic stress, shock events and economic uncertainty have turned our world upside down. The series aims to make the array of threats to mental health easier to manage.

If we’re worried, it’s for good reason. Rising inflation earlier this year has pushed up the prices of basic commodities such as bread, gasoline and clothing.These skyrocketing costs aren’t unique to Los Angeles, but they’ve been particularly painful in a city where more than half of its residents pay for housing, which is typically considered unaffordable.2019 city ​​report We found that 51.7% of all Los Angeles households spend 30% or more of their income on rent. According to the same report, about a third (32%) of renters in the city spend more than half of their income on rent.

If you want to talk about anxiety, consider the following. One in four of her Quality of Life Index respondents said she went to bed every night because she was afraid she would end up on the streets. According to Yaroslavski, this puts about 2.5 million people across the county at risk of becoming homeless.

according to Latest Homeless Count69,144 people in the county are currently experiencing that reality—part of our “perfect storm.”

Mr Wong said:

Reaching everyone in need of mental health services has always been a challenge and is getting harder. Despite the increased demand, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find vacant mental health workers during the pandemic.All at once Los Angeles County Mental Health Clinic This summer, the waiting time for treatment was six months. It took nearly eight months to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist for my first medication evaluation.

Providing services in schools to address youth mental health crises has also proven problematic. LA Unified has secured $177 million to employ nearly 900 of her social workers and other mental health his staff for the 2021-22 fiscal year. After one year, about one-third of social workers were recruited.

So if you’re struggling right now — if you need a little extra support to get you through the day, week, or even hour — you’re not alone. Most of Los Angeles is with you.

The Surfers Memorial at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz. A protective mask is placed.

(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)

I can’t make the pain of this moment go away, but I hope I can help make the array of threats to your mental health more manageable.

On these pages, hear from individuals who have faced unique challenges, such as psychotic disorders or living with COVID for the long term, and learn what they have achieved with their diagnosis, not despite it.

We explore the ambiguous nature of COVID grief and take you into a world of VR meditation with great potential for people with mental health issues. We talk to people trying to understand the complexity of suicide and how we can work to prevent it, and explain how the new National Suicide Hotline 988 works.

We will also hear from mental health professionals and healers, academics and researchers who have dedicated their lives to helping and supporting those in distress. What are their success stories?

It also introduces you to some resources and tools for managing the mental health needs of yourself and your friends and loved ones.

And finally, we would like to offer this glimmer of hope.

Even though we are facing the biggest mental health crisis this city has ever experienced, there is a movement to lay the groundwork for a society that is talking about mental health and dealing with it more openly than ever before. is.

“The problem is overwhelming, but the potential for rich and scalable solutions is there,” says Wong. “We can create hope that is contagious. We can help people do more than they thought they were capable of.”

By educating ourselves, we all have the opportunity to contribute not only to our own well-being, but also to the well-being of our families, friends, colleagues and communities.

let’s grab it