Why Are Mental Health Challenges Rising So Quickly Among Gen Z? | The Rundown

Why Are Mental Health Challenges Rising So Quickly Among Gen Z? | The Rundown

A growing body of research suggests Gen Z is facing mental health challenges at rates far higher than previous generations. We break down what the data is showing, what’s driving the surge, and what it reveals about the pressures young people are navigating today, with insight from Dr. Nicole Kozloff, psychiatrist and director of the Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth and Family Mental Health at CAMH, and Jenny Yuen, executive vice‑president of Partnerships and Government Relations at Kids Help Phone. Then, as social media reshapes how young people learn about intimacy and relationships, we turn to the consequences of misinformation in sex education. Shamin Mohamed Jr., founder of the youth‑led HIV charity LetsStopAIDS, joins us to discuss the risks, the gaps in trusted information, and what effective, youth‑focused solutions could look like.

00:00 Intro
01:06 What the Data Shows on Gen Z Mental Health
03:20 Resilience, Stress, and a Digital World
05:26 Self‑Harm, Suicide, and Youth Risks
08:22 Social Media: Harmful or Helpful?
12:08 What Governments, Schools, and Employers Can Do
15:28 Sex, Misinformation, and Social Media
18:23 HIV, STIs, and Falling Condom Use
25:52 Fixing the Gaps in Sex Education

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The Rundown is your nightly half-hour deep dive into just one headline. With host Jeyan Jeganathan, we’ll cover everything from housing and health care to climate and AI. We’ll break down why each topic matters, who’s living it, and what’s being done to make things better – starting right here in Ontario. Slow down. Tune in. Make sense of the moment. And tell us what you think.

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