As we hit the four-year mark of the lockdowns from COVID, a local mental health professional is doing a stop, look, and listen on the impacts of those decisions four years ago.

On the WHOW Morning Show Tuesday, Tony Kirkman - Executive Director of the Piatt County Mental Health Center - told Regional Radio he is watching where young adults are at right now because of all the impactful milestones they were not able to experience.

Right now, data tells us those young adults are suffering from higher rates of depression and anxiety and Kirkman also points out, they are becoming less and less social.

According to Kirkman, young kids were greatly impacted by the pandemic and the traditional developmental milestones they hit as they grow up. He explains those kids in late elementary and junior high school experienced new environments largely skipping over important lessons they should have learned when they were younger.

Social-emotional learning has become a prominent subject in junior high and high school. Kirkman hopes this helps break the stigma of young people processing their emotions - particularly for young boys.

Kirkman and the folks at the Piatt County Mental Health Center are currently in the school systems in Piatt and DeWitt Counties administering the bi-ennial Illinois Youth Survey and Kirkman will be closely watching the results of that survey. 

We'll have more on that with Kirkman on Regional Radio.