Emergency Department visits for young people with thoughts of suicide or self-harm increased by 25 percent during the latest CDC report. The data was culled from emergency room visits from January 2017 through December 2018. The sharp uptick is especially troubling since this was several years before social isolation from COVID-19, said West Texas Centers CEO Shelley Smith LMSW. “Mental health professionals are especially concerned of the fall-out stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Smith said. “This is uncharted territory for all of us, especially our youth who have been enrolled in online learning and kept away from friends and extended family and sometimes ...