\t\t\t\t\tQuick Take<\/p>\n
A new executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom aims to tackle the mental health crisis disproportionately affecting boys and young men through education, workforce engagement and mentorship initiatives. Clinician Matt Merrill, who works with youth in Santa Cruz County, calls the move a meaningful first step.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Renaissance High School mental health clinician Matt Merrill is hopeful that a new state initiative will help address a mental health crisis among young men and boys that\u2019s causing them to die from suicides and overdoses at far higher rates than young women and girls.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order<\/a> focused on the mental health crisis facing boys to help them find purpose through education, family and work, and to reduce suicide rates.<\/p>\n \u201cThe state is telling us, \u2018Hey, we see that there\u2019s a problem,\u2019\u201d Merrill said. \u201cThat\u2019s the first step. And they\u2019re taking action to address the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Renaissance High is a continuation school serving about 120 kids in Pajaro Valley Unified School District<\/a>. Merrill works there five days a week and often coaches school sports teams including basketball and soccer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Across the state, nearly 80% of all suicides are men, and young men are about three times more likely to die by suicide than young women. In a news release<\/a>, state officials said that a lack of mental health resources and gender stereotypes have contributed to a culture where men and boys feel they can\u2019t seek support, which causes higher rates of isolation, lower workforce participation, drug use and crime.<\/p>\n In Santa Cruz County, the rates that men and boys die from suicide and overdose mirror those at the statewide level. From October 2022 to June 2025, out of 284 overdose deaths in the county, 79% were men. For that same time frame, 81% of the 16 children who died were boys and 79% of the total 116 suicide cases involved men or boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n To Merrill, there\u2019s a \u201cuniversal\u201d mental health crisis for all young people and it\u2019s important to understand the specific symptoms for all genders \u2014 boys, girls and nonbinary youth. Merrill, who has been a licensed mental health clinician at Renaissance High for six years, said some of the troubling behaviors that he sees among boys are extreme isolation, disappearing into the internet, drugs and alcohol and getting involved in gangs.<\/p>\n He said Newsom\u2019s initiative is a good start toward addressing the challenges that tend to affect boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n The executive order directs the California Health and Human Services Agency to make recommendations to tackle the suicide crisis, and directs the Office of Service and Community Engagement and other agencies to find opportunities to promote the participation of men and boys in volunteer opportunities and in the workforce. Newsom\u2019s order also asks the State Board of Education, California Department of Education and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to find opportunities to recruit more men as teachers and school counselors.\u00a0<\/p>\n Merrill sees a lack of mentors as a crucial part of the issue and he thinks it\u2019s very important for boys to have role models. He said mentors provide a kind of acknowledgement that young men and boys need to feel noticed and valued, and like they have a future.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYoung men need \u2014 or thrive with \u2014 older men\u2019s validation,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need mentors, coaches, teachers, counselors. They need people to look up to in real life, not just on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n He said mentoring and support doesn\u2019t always have to look like one-on-one therapy. It can also be a teacher or staff member playing catch with a young man during a class break.<\/p>\n Merrill said youth in Santa Cruz County could become even more discouraged about the prospect of a successful future when they see how challenging it is for families to afford basic necessities, especially housing. For the third consecutive year, Santa Cruz County was ranked the most unaffordable<\/a> rental market in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so hard to make it here,\u201d he said. \u201cOur wages are lower than neighboring counties. Our rent and mortgages are higher. Santa Cruz County is the most unaffordable county in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of those local affordability challenges, the executive order\u2019s focus on jobs caught Merrill\u2019s eye. He thinks if students have more opportunities to learn about different careers in school programs they can more easily imagine a career and get motivated.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe need more trades coming into our schools. If kids don\u2019t see something, they don\u2019t know it exists, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He noted that a lineman with Pacific Gas & Electric can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but many boys and young men don\u2019t even realize that kind of career is an option for them.\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019ll never think about that, because you don\u2019t know it\u2019s even a thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The executive order emphasizes that the mental health crisis of young men and boys affects everyone, and that the efforts to address it also benefit everyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe progress that women have made is to be celebrated,\u201d it reads, \u201cand it is not a zero-sum question of continuing the important work to support equality and opportunity for women and girls while also addressing the challenges facing men and boys: doing so directly benefits society as a whole.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Note: Are you a parent, educator, mental health professional or concerned community member who wants to share more about boys\u2019 mental health for a potential story? Email reporter Hillary Ojeda at hillary@lookoutlocal.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n