SANTA CRUZ >> Hundreds of researchers, parents and local youth leaders committed to improving the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents gathered in Santa Cruz Friday as part of the 27th annual Jon E. Nadherny/Calciano Memorial Youth Symposium.

The event, hosted in the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk’s Cocoanut Grove, was guided by the theme “Building Youth Mental Health Supports: Social Media, Services, and Youth Voices in Prevention, Early Intervention, and Wellbeing” and featured local, regional and national experts in the field.

“Our young people are facing major challenges right now in terms of post-pandemic (era), in terms of the many challenges that are happening worldwide,” said Steven Adelsheim, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the associate chair for community engagement at Stanford University’s Department of Psychiatry. “Our mental health system is really ungeared to provide the support that young people need really early in their processes. And so it’s become really important for us to create strategies and service opportunities for young people to access early mental health care.”

The daylong symposium featured talks from Adelsheim and his Stanford colleague, Vicki Harrison, director of the Stanford Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing, about the relationship between youth mental health and social media. The lineup also included a youth panel, presentations from local program providers such as The Diversity Center, Family Service Agency of the Central Coast and Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Division as well as tables from several community-based organizations offering resources.

Harrison said that the relationship young people have with social media is complex and highly individualized, and that the latest research does not label social media conclusively “good” or “bad” from a mental health perspective. The most important thing, she said, is to include and uplift youth voices in conversations about mental health and approach these discussions with an open mind.

“These adult allies can open these spaces,” said Harrison. “They can ask questions in a nonjudgemental way and not shut down the conversation by (saying) ‘It’s rotting your brain,’ or ‘You’re on your phone all the time.’ Really trying to have some intention.”

One of the youth panelists, Layah, said thoughtful youth engagement and inclusion is a much-needed component for combating the national issue.“We need to be engaged and empowered and included in all aspects of our mental health, of our treatment, of our interventions,” said Layah. “Because we’re living through it firsthand, so I think our voices are needed.”

The symposium this year drew around 400 attendees and has become an enduring force for good in the region, though it was born from tragedy. Jon Ervin Nadherny, beloved son and brother, died by suicide in 1995 at age 23. The traumatic event caused Jon’s mother, Linda Calciano, to organize the first small-scale symposium in Jon’s name two years later so that, as she told the Sentinel in 2018, “other families would not have to encounter this tragedy.”

While this year had a focus on social media and early intervention, the unifying purpose of the symposium over the years has been to strengthen adolescent behavioral health resources in the community.

Joshua Nadherny-Calciano, one of Jon’s eight siblings, helps plan and organize the event every year, and said the gathering helps local providers and families explore and interact with current adolescent mental health topics, programs and renowned specialists.

“The mission has always been to focus on adolescents, the most vulnerable,” said Nadherny-Calciano. “These symposiums are a wonderful legacy and give a real sense of purpose to Jon’s life.”

According to a report from the Associated Press, a recent government survey indicated there are small signs of improvement in the mental health of U.S. teenagers, though girls are afflicted with feelings of sadness and hopelessness at higher rates.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last August showed that from 2021 to 2023, high school students with feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness declined from 42% to 40%. For girls specifically, the study measured a drop from 57% to 53%.

In 2023, 77% of students reported using social media several times a day, according to the AP, while 16% of high school students said they’d been electronically bullied during the past year through texting or social media. Girls and LGBTQ+ students were more prone to be victims of electronic bullying, the data found.

The symposium continues to receive financial support from the Dominican Hospital Foundation, which helped establish an endowment in Jon’s name.

Bob Semas helped facilitate that partnership as a member of the foundation, and has continued to attend and support the event even after retiring. He said the mental health care system failed Jon 30 years ago, but his family refused to let the that be the end of the story.

“The family had an opportunity to rail against the system that had failed,” said Semas, “and instead they chose to do something positive that will help the community and prevent other families in Santa Cruz from suffering the same fate.”

If you or someone you know needs help, reach out to the national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or the National Alliance on Mental Illness by calling 1-800-950-6264 or texting “NAMI” to 741741.