You're watching Southwest Florida in focus.

Coming up, a new study shows the skyrocketing increase in adolescents attempting suicide in southwest Florida is no exception.

We speak with one Collier County woman who hopes her story can help those who are going through their own mental health crisis.

Keeping kids well nourished.

The impact of $1 billion budget cut from the U.S. Department of Agriculture could have on food banks and school lunches.

And despite not passing a state budget yet, Florida lawmakers take a break from their legislative session.

We take a look at some of the new bills that lawmakers have passed so far, and some of the proposals that failed to get the votes.

Hello, I'm Sandra Victorova.

Thank you very much for being here.

Today we begin with the impact the mental health crisis is having on our country and our community.

Studies show more young people are dying by suicide than ever before.

The center for Disease Control says more than 7000 young people between the ages of ten and 24 took their lives in 2021.

We've seen a 62% increase in suicide among that same group since 2007, according to Yale University.

The CDC also reported that 1 in 5 high school students have seriously considered attempting suicide.

Southwest Florida is certainly not immune to this problem.

The David Lawrence Center treated nearly 700 children from mental health crisis last year, some as young as six years old.

Jennifer Crawford spoke with one Naples woman who shares how she survived her mental health crisis as a teenager.

I learned how to let go of mistakes.

I learned to listen to Chloe Khan joyfully shares highlights of her day with her father.

The 26 year old Naples resident exudes happiness, enthusiasm and positivity, a zest for life a life that may have been cut tragically short as a teenager with thoughts of suicide.

Oh, when I started getting bullied I was like, I didn't know what to do.

In my head, I was just having all these thoughts like a storm was coming in my head.

It was hard for me because my parents were going through a divorce at that time, and I was very stressed about it, and I had a lot of anxiety about it.

So I was just like, I don't want to do this anymore.

And I just hadn't thought of, doing self harm.

Chloe has autism and suffers with seizures.

She had already been taking part in a therapy program through David Lawrence Centers for Behavioral Health, or DLC, in Naples.

During one of those sessions, she revealed suicidal thoughts to her therapist, who told her mother, Lisa Con Allen, As a parent, you never want your child to even think those things, you know, it's certainly not act on them.

It was a very interesting experience.

Following a squad car with your daughter riding in that off to you know, the David Lawrence Center at night.

But that's exactly what happened.

Chloe was Baker acted.

They put her through their intake process there.

She was in for 72 hours.

Kristen E-step is the clinical supervisor for the Emergency Services Assessment Center at DLC.

The key concerns definitely are safety, first and foremost of the child or adolescent.

E-step says in the past decade, they've seen a dramatic rise in cases like Chloe's, and average number of children on a crisis unit has increased nearly by 500%.

We see a lot of them come from the school system.

Lately, it's been insanely busy with the children.

Unfortunately, we've had a lot of parents that bring their children here due to comments about suicide or homicidal ideation, kids that self-harm.

It is scary and horrifying and terrifying for family members, a brother to see anything.

Everybody will be so upset and do not be afraid to go find help.

Her mother credits the treatment programs at DLC with saving her daughter's life and her family.

They were the start of getting back on the road to health.

It really was the beginning and it was everything.

In the meantime, Chloe is flourishing.

She loves her new job at Macy's.

You have to make sure they're, like, straight.

Has a circle of friends, hobbies, fur babies, and so much to live for.

I realize that my family needs me.

My brother needs me.

I see myself helping kids with similarities of me like disabilities, and I see myself having a family, maybe kids down the road and just having a beautiful life.

I'm Jennifer Crawford, reporting for WGCU news.

And then With so many people struggling with their mental health during these complicated times, how do we work through those uncomfortable feelings?

One group is using empathy as a tool to help build mindfulness.

In 2020, Fgcu unveiled the Rock center, or The Roots of Compassion and Kindness.

The center aims to develop skills like understanding and listening to help students and others in the community.

We are joined by the director of the Rock center, Doctor Maria Roca.

Maria, welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

So explain to us when the Rock center developed, you wanted to focus on things like empathy and compassion to kind of relieve some of these issues, like anxiety and stress.

So we were founded because we had a donor who thought that if we taught college students about compassion, kindness, and empathy, that we could then send them out to the schools to teach children, and that if we taught eight year olds all about compassion, kindness, and empathy in one generation, we could change the world, that it would be a kinder world, a more loving world.

We would reduce anxiety, we would reduce depression.

And so we've now been doing this work for five years.

Great.

So help us to understand this connection between listening, kindness, understanding with others and how that would impact one's own mental health struggles.

Feelings at the core of that is connection.

Right.

So if you're listening to others, you're connecting.

You know, if you and I are talking, we're making eye contact.

It's not about looking at your phone.

It's not about wondering who's texting you, but being fully, fully present.

So when we teach compassion, kindness and empathy, we teach our students how to stand in the shoes of the other.

So if I'm talking to you, it's not about the time.

The thing you're talking about happened to me.

It's about what's happening to you.

And my full focus becomes to you that gets me out of my own head, gets me out into the world and helps me become a more connected, more present, more mindful human being.

There's research, science, science to back it up.

Yes.

So when we're doing acts of kindness, when we're becoming more compassionate and empathetic, we're shifting out of the amygdala, the more reptilian part of the brain, and into the frontal lobe, which is the more reflective part of the brain.

We see that when we do fMRI eyes on people as they're thinking about compassion, kindness, and empathy.

We actually see different parts of the brain trigger and you see them light up.

It's one of the most extraordinary things to be able to see, and you start to realize that this makes us healthier.

There's actually research that suggests that kind of more compassion people have fewer illnesses.

Really?

Yeah.

Fewer colds, fewer.

I mean, it's really quite fascinating.

Speak a moment to a lot of the professionals out there who are tied to the cell phone or the tablet or the computer.

Just stressed out, right?

Trying to make a living, trying to make ends meet.

How do we become more mindfulness?

How do we lower that blood pressure and just be more present and happier?

Right.

You just said it.

Shut the phone off.

Right?

There are some really wonderful books out right now.

One in particular.

It's called The Anxious Generation that was written by Jonathan Haidt.

And in it, towards the end, he really talks about needing to become more intentional in the use of your technology so that you're using your technology rather than your technology using you.

And at this point, too much of the time, our technology is using us.

Every time we hear that little, noise, the ping, the vibration, and the first thought is, do I better reach for my phone?

We have to get better about shutting all those things off so that we decide.

I'll take this hour today and check my email.

Check my text messages.

But that we're not constantly checking all day long.

Doctor Mario Roca, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you for having.

New laws are coming to the Sunshine State.

After the break, we take a look at what measures lawmakers passed this legislative session.

From school start times to condo relief.

And what proposals didn't make the cut.

Florida lawmakers have taken a break from their legislative session, which was supposed to be wrapped up last Friday.

Legislators haven't delivered a budget yet or ironed out proposals to reduce taxes.

So legislators have extended the session and they'll get back to work on Monday.

Still, lawmakers have already approved multiple new pieces of legislation.

To help us understand the significance and impact of the measures that passed and didn't.

We are joined by Doctor Sandra Pavelka, a professor of political science here at Florida Gulf Coast University, and John Davis, host and reporter here at WGCU.

Welcome to you both.

Thank you.

So I'd like to start with fluoride because it impacts so many folks.

As of July 1st, Florida will ban fluoride from its drinking water.

The governor said he's going to sign this measure.

Floridians are really getting mixed messages on fluoride right now.

John.

Absolutely.

You know, and this has even just some insider baseball has led to some editorial conversations with GQ's newsroom about how we responsibly cover this, because you have DeSantis and other supporters of this idea of banning fluoride, characterizing it as a medicine, as a chemical.

As it's just it's none of those things.

It's a naturally occurring mineral.

The Florida Dental Association notes that it reduces cavities in adults and children by 25% when municipal water systems are fluoridated.

I want to jump now to the constitutional amendment process.

So governor DeSantis signed a law saying that, essentially creating new hurdles for these citizen drive initiatives.

How significant is the impact?

Well, there are there are additional, elements that are added now to the citizen led initiatives and amendment process.

One being additional information is now being, mandated, where, the individual who signing the petition has to include further information on themselves.

Second, there are no public funding.

Mechanisms, that can be used for either a pro or against a constitutional amendment, as has been done in the past.

And then also there are increased penalties and kind of a tighter timeline, with regard to the entire process.

So there's a lot, a lot of additional information and penalties in case those individuals violate any of these procedures.

Let's switch gears now and talk about students.

School start times were actually supposed to be later this year, but that's changed now.

Correct.

So this measure actually had passed previously, but this bill was a repeal of that previous legislation.

The school districts just found it very costly to implement this, and it became more of an unfunded mandate on those school districts, students and cellphones.

So currently, under state law, cell phone use by students is banned during instructional time.

But lawmakers have passed a bill that basically bans kids from being on their phones throughout the school day in elementary and middle schools.

Now, for high schools, they're going to actually create a pilot program where six districts, two small to middle and two large are going to be chosen to participate in this program, where they just kind of ban cell phone use by high school students throughout the day.

The Department of Education is going to determine which districts are part of that pilot project.

And so we don't know who's going to be involved in that just yet.

Let's not jump to the big ones that did not pass the measures that didn't pass.

And let's start first with the, open carry of firearms.

So the legislature has actually, brought this back, after every year it seems to come back on their radar.

The Florida Sheriffs Association has been adamantly opposed to this bill for four years.

We're only 1 in 4, one out of four states in the country that don't mandate or don't allow, open carry.

So this is, this is very interesting, but it did not pass.

And, you know, certainly, that has gone back to kind of a non more non restrictive, element, the one mandated job that the legislature was supposed to get done during the session hasn't happened yet.

So they have to reconvene on.

What is that?

Well, there's still lots of work to do.

Correct.

Yeah.

So lawmakers have this week off.

They get to spend Mother's Day weekend at home, but they're going to be back in Tallahassee next week.

Of course, they have to hammer out that budget by July 1st.

The House and Senate proposals are still quite a bit far apart.

Also, we see more of that clash between governor DeSantis and legislative leaders and what lawmakers are going to be taking up.

House Speaker Perez is going to be convening a special committee to look at property tax reduction.

DeSantis has been a proponent of eliminating property taxes in Florida.

But DeSantis this week has come down on Perez, saying the select committee is a dog and pony show and it's taking off, you know, signaling that they're not really going to do anything on that front.

Perez is more into reducing the state's sales tax rate, but at the same time, Perez is telling DeSantis, well, if you want to eliminate property taxes, you have to give us some sort of plan for how state and local governments would make up for that massive amount of lost revenue.

And we haven't heard anything from the governor's office about that.

And that's the big question.

So if they take away these funds from especially from local governments, how are they going to make that up to actually have the services that that are so necessary to the citizens of our state?

Still lots to come.

So we'll be watching.

We so appreciate your analysis.

Thank you, Doctor Pavelka and John, thank you.

From coast to coast, thousands of people started this month by protesting the first 100 days of the Trump administration at a march in Naples.

Many voiced their concerns over the president's policies concerning immigration and government budget cuts.

Weeks, Amanda in Whitmore reports.

This land is your land.

This land is mine.

Let me hear you say so.

On this May day, we need to let the leaders know that there are many things we value that do uphold democracy.

We value freedom of speech and the press.

We need to be able to express our opinions openly and without fear of reprisal.

Yes, we value true freedom of religion.

Where?

What viewpoint does not have any greater sway then another?

And religion is kept out of our public schools.

We want a democracy, not a theocracy.

We think it's important every two weeks to be doing something, to be keeping our interests up there so the rest of the public can see.

There's a lot of people upset about this.

Peaceful protest can bring down dictatorial government, and that is our ultimate hope.

Quite frankly, that's what democracy looks like.

I'm a marine, Vietnam veteran, and the freedoms I supposedly fought for are being taken away from.

Every morning when I wake up and then I remember where I am and I think I'm in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1932 and not in the United States of America.

What's happening today is not America.

I have young grandchildren, and I want them to grow up in a country where they have the advantages that I have had, and I think we have a very corrupt situation on our hands.

Oh.

Oh, yeah.

My friends are here.

You have to be able to imagine a better world.

Imagine success.

Imagine joy.

Life not got caught The billions of dollars in cuts to federal spending by the Trump administration has been far reaching from eliminating thousands of federal workers across agencies to the dismantling of the U.S. agency for International Development.

Today, we look at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's move to end two programs that helped schools and food banks buy food from local farmers and ranchers.

The USDA has cut more than $1 billion toward these purchases, according to The Associated Press.

The USDA said the programs are a legacy of the pandemic, and no longer support the agency's priorities.

To take a closer look at the impact of the cuts.

Doctor Marlene Schwartz, a professor of human development and family sciences and director of the center for Food Policy and Health at the University of Connecticut.

Welcome, Doctor Schwartz, to your time.

Thank Thank you so much.

It's good to be here.

So do we know what the impact will be on children and families from these cuts?

Well, I think it is going to be a problem because these programs supported purchasing local food at settings where we it's really important to be able to provide the best nutrition possible.

So schools, childcare centers and food banks, which provide food for low income families, is that are having a hard time affording a healthy diet.

So the idea of investing in that I think is a really smart investment.

If your goal is to try to improve health and and decrease chronic diseases.

So you use the term investment.

So I'm going to actually go to that question.

The Trump administration, according to the Associated Press, has disrupted some $430 billion in federal funds.

And that's according to an administration working to root out waste.

There was an interesting statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics.

It said more than a quarter of public schools now offer all students free school meals through state or local initiatives.

Why do you think cutting this funding is a problem?

So the National School Lunch Program, typically, supports a program through national dollars, which are sometimes then combined with state dollars or local dollars.

And there's very clear research that the food that children are receiving in schools is the healthiest foods that they receive from anywhere.

These programs have always been required to follow nutrition standards, and those were even strengthened, in 2012 2013, as part of the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act.

So any cuts to those programs and anything that's making it harder for them to get fresh ingredients to do more scratch cooking is definitely going to ultimately harm children.

We haven't talked about food banks, so let's just end on that note.

We know that at least locally, there's been some increased demand, among some food banks for more for more food.

What is your concern when it comes to these cuts impacting those food banks?

So the charitable food system sort of by definition, they depend on donations.

You know, so they have some federal funding.

They may have some state funding.

And then a lot of it is individual donations from the community.

So that's all they have to purchase the food and acquire the food that they then provide through their food pantries and meal programs.

So I worry that, that without these funds, they can't make, as you know, sort of choices about bringing in the healthiest products possible, and they'll be more reliant on simply what's donated, which may or may not be the most nutritious foods.

Doctor Marlene Schwartz, we appreciate your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Coming up, battling more than just your opponent on the playing field, we talked with two Fgcu athletes on how they balance sports while dealing with type one diabetes.

The rate of diabetes continues to rise in the United States, with nearly 12% of the U.S. population reported to be diabetic, according to the center for Disease Control, over 38 million Americans have diabetes, which can lead to a plethora of symptoms ranging from persistent fatigue and increased thirst to life threatening conditions.

For two Florida Gulf Coast University athletes, they are not letting their type one diabetes diagnosis take them out of the game.

WGCUs Cary Barbor has that story.

I, Jack Carpenter, just received her degree in communications from Fgcu.

She was also a beach volleyball player for the university, competing against the top schools in the nation.

She was named a Sun Conference Scholar Athlete of the year for her sport.

On top of all that, she was managing.

Type one diabetes.

Obviously, being a college athlete, is very challenging, balancing school and internships and work and obviously the 20 hours of work that we put into our sport every week.

And then on top of diabetes adds kind of an extra layer.

It takes a lot of time management.

Jesse was diagnosed at age seven and is familiar with the myth that people with diabetes can't do as much athletically as their peers.

But she has gone well beyond proving that wrong.

She was among the top five players in the history of a very competitive Fgcu program.

I can still achieve things at a high level.

It takes some extra work for sure.

Obviously checking our sugars throughout the day and managing it.

But I think that's the biggest misconception is that we can't do things or it can hold us back.

Jesse is part of a name, image and likeness program called Dexcom U, which is made up of a group of college athletes who use Dexcom glucose monitors to help manage their diabetes.

The athletes wear a sensor on their upper arm that sends a glucose reading to their phone, or watch about every five minutes.

This allows players to take quick action, even during a game or match.

They can use an insulin pump, have an injection, or take some food or juice to quickly stabilize glucose levels.

Leo Johnson is a graduate student in business at Fgcu and a pitcher on the university baseball team.

His diabetes diagnosis came when he was a freshman in college, so he had to learn fast how to manage the condition as an athlete.

The trainers for his college team helped, he says.

The insulin I'm using now, short acting insulin and they put me on a Dexcom, which helps me because, like, I don't have to prick my fingers to check my glucose levels.

I just look at the sensor and I'm able to I'm able to kind of read my, my glucose levels from there.

After he was diagnosed, he learned to eat better and take better care of his health.

Through Dexcom, you, Leo and Jack were able to meet college athletes from across the country who are also managing diabetes.

They socialize and support one another.

Leo will finish his MBA in August and hopes to then continue in baseball or in finance.

I know you want to come on the beach.

Volleyball thought hard at the Ace on conference championships the last weekend in April, but lost in the semifinal.

Despite that disappointment and exciting future, waits for Jake, who will be a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee in student athlete development while working on a master's degree in sports management.

I'm really excited to work in college athletics from the other side, and hopefully maybe meet another athlete who is living with type one that I can kind of help along their journey as well.

For WGCU news, I'm Cary Barbor And venturing into the final frontier.

Coming up next week, we talk with veteran astronaut Winston Scott to learn about his time among the stars and what the future of space exploration holds for the Sunshine State.

Join us for that story and much more next week.

And don't forget to like and subscribe to our WGCU News YouTube channel, where you will find all of our stories and those extended interviews.

And to all of our moms out there, we hope you have an especially great weekend.