Your Questions About YMHT: Answered

The Youth Mental Health Tracker (YMHT) is a comprehensive and actionable mental health and wellbeing data platform aimed to empower equitable, youth-centered solutions. The YMHT delves into the diverse experiences of today’s youth and investigates both the protective and risk factors influencing youth wellbeing. Our tracker offers real-time insights through ongoing surveys, integrating novel data from over 10,000 U.S. youth collected over three years with existing datasets. With one of the largest youth sample sizes to date, the YMHT monitors changes over time, deepening our understanding of the factors shaping youth mental health and wellbeing. This multi-year initiative aims to drive effective, youth-centered strategies, creating lasting solutions for a brighter future.

The Youth Mental Health Tracker (YMHT) is a publicly accessible tool for all. Designed to empower policymakers, government officials, advocacy groups, educational institutions, community organizations, and media outlets, the YMHT aims to spark meaningful change for our youth. We also invite academic and research institutions to engage with our findings as we advance a new wave of research. True, lasting change requires a comprehensive understanding of youth mental health and wellbeing. Explore our data to arm yourself with the insights needed to make a real impact.

The Youth Mental Health Tracker was created by Surgo Health, in partnership with Pivotal Ventures and SHOWTIME/MTV Entertainment Studios. Based in Washington DC, Surgo Health is a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) offering a revolutionary behavioral analytics platform and generating novel, real-world data to inform better health outcomes. Our data-driven, human-centered approach enables a greater understanding of the complex factors that influence how individuals engage in their healthcare.

The YMHT was developed to transform the prevailing deficit narrative around youth mental health and empower policymakers, advocacy organizations, educational institutions, and others with a transformative framework for understanding and addressing this pressing crisis.

In the past 15 years, youth suicide rates have surged, and cases of depression have doubled, casting a sobering shadow over the aspirations of our younger generation. This crisis is particularly acute among marginalized youth populations, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+ youth, and those experiencing poverty, who disproportionately face mental health disparities. To effectively tackle the current youth mental health crisis, we must understand who is most affected, where these individuals are, and why they are suffering, all while providing actionable recommendations to drive lasting, meaningful change.

By illuminating the complexities of youth mental health and equipping stakeholders with the necessary insights and tools, the YMHT aims not only to raise awareness but also to inspire collective action that fosters resilience, inclusivity, and lasting change for our youth. Together, we can redefine the narrative and ensure a brighter future for all young people.

From its inception, the YMHT has been designed with a deep commitment to capturing the unique experiences of underrepresented groups and amplifying their voices. To achieve this, we implemented a robust sampling strategy, focusing on intentionally increasing the participation of key priority subgroups: BIPOC youth, LGBTQ+ youth, and youth who face financial hardships. By boosting sample sizes within these communities, we are ensuring their perspectives are not just included but meaningfully reflected in the data. This approach allows us to better understand and address the challenges faced by those who are often overlooked, fostering a youth mental health landscape that truly represents and nurtures everyone.

Read about the YMHT methodology here.

Solving the biggest healthcare challenges requires teamwork. Surgo has other publicly available data tools that deepen our understanding of healthcare outcomes, enabling us to develop targeted strategies for lasting change.

Surgo created the COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI) to leverage the power of data to understand how and why communities are vulnerable, so we can develop solutions to help them. The CCVI identifies these communities by aggregating dozens of indicators, across six themes, to understand both the overall vulnerability of a community as well as its unique factors. The CCVI has guided organizations such as the CDC, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Harvard University on policy making, program design, research, and resource allocation, garnering widespread media attention from the NY Times, Axios, and USA today.

Surgo’s Maternal Vulnerability Index (MVI) was the first US national index of its kind, identifying not only where, but why mothers in the United States are vulnerable to poor maternal health outcomes. Surgo’s Maternal Vulnerability Index (MVI) is the first national index in the US to identify not just where, but why mothers are vulnerable to poor maternal health outcomes. Recognized by the New York Times and Lancet Reg Health Am, the MVI is actively used by over 40 academic, nonprofit, government, and policy organizations to improve maternal health outcomes and inform policy.

Creating lasting change for our youth requires a collaborative effort. Stay informed about Youth Mental Health Tracker data releases by subscribing to our newsletter. To explore how to leverage our data for meaningful action, visit our Take Action page. For any questions or inquiries, reach out to us at ymht@surgohealth.com.