local officials want tougher consequences for bullies in the wake of 14 year old Adriana Kuch'’s suicide the Central Regional High School student took her own life after being attacked at school and a video of The Assault was shared widely online while local leaders are pushing the legislature to enact Adriana's law named in her honor it'll require legal penalties for anyone filming an assault on a minor and anyone who shares the videos a recent CDC study found increasing rates of anxiety depression and Suicidal Thoughts among teen girls many of those who work in youth Crisis Intervention are attributing that rise to the use of social media Raven Santana reports sitting up at night um trying to just do crunches before you go to bed to try to look like them you know get that body that um you know trying to eat less to get that perfect figure just the little tweaks and how much it actually turns you apart Rebecca Coakley says her thoughts are suicide starting at age 12 stem from an extreme addiction to social media apps that started when she was just 10.

I'm watching all these YouTubers and oh my gosh they're so pretty and look how happy they are look at all they have and you know at first it's just like almost an admiration of them but then as I got a little bit older I'd say about 12 and you know I started to develop and I want to improve myself and I started getting really self-conscious they look that's what I Look to to um decide what I should be according to the youth risk behavior survey by the Centers for Disease Control and prevention teen girls across the United States are experiencing extreme levels of hopelessness the report found that nearly 60 percent of female students experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2021 up 36 percent from 2011 and nearly one in three teenage girls seriously considered suicide that's up about 60 percent from a decade before teens reporting feelings of sadness or hopelessness increased across all demographics during this decade I think that suicidal ideation suicide behavior is an incredibly complex topic there are a lot of contributing factors that are involved social media is definitely one um you know children have access to more and more information they're seeing people live these beautiful dream lives that they want to be living Dana zakarowski is senior director of children's mobile response and stabilization services for Care Plus New Jersey the northern New Jersey Behavioral Health provider operates children's mobile response in Bergen County a 24 7 Crisis Intervention and stabilization hotline that responds to mental health crises within one hour between the year 2020 and 2022 we saw a 60 increases in our overall number of dispatches Youth and families across Bergen County Children spend a lot of their time in school you know so that is a huge a huge stressor and a huge trigger for a lot of depressive symptoms if your child is feeling they're being bullied or it really may not even look like you know they're being hit or physically bullied it could look like no one's talking to the kid in reason they're just sitting by themselves psychiatrists for Care Plus New Jersey Dr Tanya Lewis says a child's School environment can really impact their mental health that's why she stresses that everyone not just a teacher can play a critical role in problem solving and healing it's going to take more than just one person like it has to have the buy-in of the entire school you know whether you are a teacher or whether you're the lunch lady if you see a kid being isolated then you know saying it's not my job that's not my class you know it's it's important for everyone to have that buy-in of we are going to establish a kind proactive inclusive culture you know in the school Dr Lewis urges parents to listen and validate their children's feelings as not everyone has the same signs and symptoms when it comes to depression and if your child refuses help or to talk to someone she encourages parents to reach out for support and guidance from therapists or medical professionals like herself For NJ Spotlight News I'm Raven Santana