On Thursday, Feb. 16, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy will participate in a youth mental health town hall discussion with high schoolers from John R. Lewis High School in the Fairfax County Public Schools district. A panel discussion, moderated by NBC Anchor Savannah Sellers and including CDC Director for the Division of Adolescent and School Health Kathleen Ethier, and Michael Axler, acting director of Intervention and Prevention Services at the Fairfax County Public Schools, will highlight the Department of Education’s mental health grants under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which includes $2 billion for mental health staffing and resources in schools, as well as amplify the urgent need for resources to address the mental health crisis. Afterwards, students from the high school will ask questions to the panelists.

On Monday, the CDC released new data showing that nearly 3 in 5 (57%) U.S. teen girls felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021—double that of boys, representing a nearly 60% increase and the highest level reported over the past decade.