Indiana high schools grapple with mental health crisis — and right wing backlash to care

Editor's note: If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Nearly half of Indiana high schoolers felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, a national survey found. And the state has the second-highest rate of students who reported that they considered suicide.

There’s a growing right-wing backlash against mental health care in schools at a time when students are in acute crisis. It’s a clash that is playing out across the country, but it’s especially dire in Indiana.

Dylan Peers McCoy of WFYI reports.