Teen Mental Illness

“It's important to have people in positions of power who have the lived experiences of a lot of these students in the district,” said 20-year-old Jackson Lewis, who is one of the newest members of the Canyons School District Board of Education.

Lawmakers say recent tweaks to Utah’s strict social media laws “absolutely” led to a judge’s dismissal of a portion of the legal challenge to them.

No court challenges exist yet but Gov. Spencer Cox is on record saying he “can't wait to get in front of a judge and jury with these media companies.”

Possible solutions include screening kids earlier for mental health concerns and tapping into underutilized Medicaid benefits.

Legislators passed a bill last year that brought the first regulatory reform to teen treatment programs in 15 years.

Inappropriate contact between children and staff members has happened with some frequency in Utah’s teen treatment programs. From November 2018 through July 2021 — state regulators have investigated at least 20 reports of staff pushing the boundaries with clients, sometimes amounting to sexual abuse.

With a parent’s consent, two people are sent to surprise their child while they are asleep to forcefully take them to a wilderness program or residential treatment center.

Since 2015, some 20,000 teens have been sent to treatment centers in Utah. That’s more than anywhere else in the country. Those kids are often brought here by a transport company.

Kylar Frederick Williams, 23, was arrested Tuesday.

Sydney Van Vliet wants young people coping with depression to know they’re not alone. She talked with her friend Isabella Hill about their experiences…