The coronavirus pandemic put a wrench in the biennial Youth Survey through the University of Illinois, but enough data came back to a Piatt County agency to raise some red flags.

The Piatt County Mental Health Center receives the results of the survey that the University of Illinois administers every two years and they examine the results for DeWitt and Piatt Counties. According to Executive Director Tony Kirkman, this year's survey was only able to capture most of the information for Piatt County.

According to Kirkman, while the Piatt County data isn't as complete as normal, he is concerned about the trends of mental health and bullying. He says youth mental health has been a focus for their agency in recent years and those numbers are rising.

Kirkman reports bullying is becoming a growing issue among young people. Social media has been a huge piece to increased issues of not only bullying but overall issues among youth in schools. 

As more gets asked of youth, anxiety grows and access to help is another hurdle. According to Kirkman, last year they started placing a therapist in the schools to be available to students. Initial reports from school leaders in Piatt County were very positive. 

For more information about the services provided by the Piatt County Mental Health Center, you can visit their website, www.piattmhc.org. You can also find the Piatt County Mental Health Center on Facebook.