Miami Heat helps create mindfulness sanctuary to benefit young people
MIAMI - What a unique, historic moment at Carol City Senior High. On Thursday, in a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Miami Heat teamed up with Florida Blue and the school district to create a mindfulness sanctuary.
"Have a peaceful moment," shared Heat Legend Glenn Rice, on hand to celebrate this endeavor to help young people. "Gather your thoughts and be able to talk about the stress that you're dealing with at the moment."
The sanctuary comes at the perfect time.
CDC findings show increased stress and distress among adolescents since 2019, a year before the pandemic.
"I do think youth are experiencing a very different life environment, let's face it," said Dr. Nick Dewan. "I think there's more doom and gloom today than there was in the nineties."
Dr. Dewan serves as Vice President for Behavioral Health at Guidewell Florida Blue. He's worked in this field for more than three decades.
"It's clear distress in youth is rising. Hope is reducing," added Dewan.
The Thursday report shows increased drug overdoses and suicide-related behaviors in boys and girls between 12-17 years old from last fall to fall of 2019.
One and done, and that's the biggest danger with the drugs out there," explained Dr. Dewan. Distress is actually still pretty high, and drug experimentation is killing or causing an overdose."
CBS News Miami's Joe Gorchow asked Dr. Dewan: "Do you think for young people, social media can be more destructive than may be beneficial based on your experiences and what you're seeing in the literature?
"There is a detrimental impact to excessive exposure," explained Dr. Dewan. "And, because the psychological development in youth is really about, am I good or not? Am I capable or not?"
Dr. Dewan says practicing mindfulness is a helpful technique for all ages to minimize distress.
The positive sign from the report is that emergency room visits for mental health conditions in young people are down from the Fall of 2022 to the Fall of 2021.
"I'm very impressed by their courage and their resilience," said Dr. Dewan.
Dr. Dewan adds that today's youth is experiencing a very different environment than in the last century. And says adults have an essential role, like creating mindfulness spaces to encourage peacefulness and positive thoughts.
