Melissa Fochesato, left, director of Community Health at Mid Coast Hospital, presents data from her study on youth mental health in Sagadahoc County compared to the rest of Maine at Union + Co. in Bath. Paul Bagnall / The Times Record

A few Sagadahoc County residents attended an informational meeting Sept. 26 on the biennial survey on the county’s youth mental health compared to the rest of the state. Although youth were invited to the event at Union + Co. in Bath, the bulk of attendees were adults who have worked with youth.

The data collected in 2023 for the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey, focusing on Maine students grades 6-12, were compared to rates of reported mental health struggles statewide and in Sagadahoc County collected between 2017 and 2023. The survey asked questions to all middle and high school students in grades 6-12 in Sagadahoc County, including 597 middle school students in seventh to eighth grade and 924 high school students.

Melissa Fochesato, director of community health at Mid Coast Hospital, which partnered with United Way of Mid Coast Maine for the presentation, noted the percentage of youth feeling sad and hopeless has decreased slightly in Sagadahoc and across the state but has been on an upward trend over the past six years.

“We are hoping to reach out to everyone in the community because we all have a role in keeping our kids safe and healthy,” Fochesato said.

Fochesato is concerned about the data on the mental health rates of all Maine students, but she cites from the biennial data survey that Sagadahoc County tends to be above the state average for youth who experience poor mental health. However, the students of Sagadahoc County have received help from an adult at a higher rate than the rest of the state.

According to the data, in 2023, 41% of Sagadahoc County high school students felt sad or hopeless for two or more weeks compared to the state average of 35%, and 23% of Sagadahoc County high school students considered suicide in the past year compared to the state average of 18%.

Thirty-five percent of middle school students in Sagadahoc County reported feeling sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in 2023 compared to the state’s 33%, and 24% of middle school students living in Sagadahoc County have considered suicide compared to the state’s 22%.

According to Fochesato, youths who feel like they are being treated differently feel like they don’t matter to the community and will report higher rates of depression and suicidal thoughts.

Approximately 46% of Sagadahoc high school students said they feel like they matter, and 34% of youth who reported feeling sad or hopeless for two-plus weeks out of the year sought help from an adult. Substance use related to vaping among high school students in Sagadahoc County was 15% in 2023 and lower than 28% in 2019.

Almost half of female students reported feeling depressed in the past year compared to a quarter of their male counterparts.

When looking at depression rates for LGBTQ+ high school students in Maine, around 28% of transgender students attempted suicide and 41% of transgender students had forced sexual contact in their lifetime.

The education protective factors discussed during the presentation were social-emotional competence, such as concrete support in times of need; supportive social connections; and knowledge of parenting and child development.

At the end of the presentation, Sagadahoc community members held discussions to provide ideas for better protective factors, such as increasing the number of kids seeking help from an adult other than parents, increasing the number of kids who feel like they matter to the community and increasing the number of kids eating dinner with a parent or adult five days per week.

“This is a statewide initiative, and so the Sagadahoc County team has been working since 2020 on this work in collaboration with what the hospital is doing,” said Nicole Evans, executive director of United Way of Mid Coast Maine.

United Way leads the Sagadahoc Working Communities Challenge, a steering committee representing multiple initiative partners in the Midcoast region that aims to increase youth hopefulness by reducing teen depression and suicide. Mid Coast Hospital has partnered with United Way of Mid Coast to help with the Working Communities Challenge, a three-year, $375,000 grant opportunity to strengthen Maine’s rural town regions and small cities. It was announced in March 2022 by Gov. Janet Mills’ administration and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

United Way of Mid Coast is developing an asset map of available resources to help youth and their families over the next several months.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health, substance use crisis or thoughts of suicide, please reach out to The Maine Crisis Line by calling or texting 988 or chatting online at 988lifeline.org.