VIDEO: DEAR EVAN HANSEN's Zachary Noah Piser and Jessica Phillips Take Part in Mental Health Awareness Campaign

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Child Mind Institute launched Dare to Share - a powerful mental health awareness campaign to reduce stigma and normalize conversations about emotional, social, and psychological wellbeing among youth. 

Today, Zachary Noah Piser and Jessica Phillips from Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen shared their own stories. watch!

Dare to Share partners with celebrities and influencers, who speak about difficult times they've encountered, what's helped them with a mental health challenge and why it is important for kids to speak up when they are struggling. Participants in the campaign include: P!nk, Maisie Williams, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, Paris Jackson, Steve Aoki, Chiara Aurelia, Zachary Noah Piser and Jessica Phillips from Broadway's Dear Evan Hansen, NYC Council Member Kevin C. Riley, Elizabeth Gilpin, Elyse Myers, Gus Kenworthy, Harley Quinn Smith, Hart Denton, Karena Dawn, Liana Liberato, Logan Browning, Remi Bader, Steve Young, Ronnie Lott and Mike Weir among others. Videos will debut across the Child Mind Institute's social platforms, and on childmind.org throughout the month. This is the sixth year that the Child Mind Institute has put forth an awareness campaign.

"The ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people's social, emotional, and mental health means we must provide children and teens with safe spaces to share their struggles and ask for support," said Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, president of the Child Mind Institute. "We hope that the messages in this year's Dare to Share videos chip away at the stigma that prevents so many from seeking care and show young people and their families that mental health disorders are real, common, and treatable."

The need for open conversations about mental health is greater than ever before. Symptoms of depression and anxiety have doubled during the pandemic and rates of youth suicide are at an all-time high. In late 2021 the American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national emergency in youth mental health and shortly after the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a rare public health advisory.]

Key Youth Mental Health Statistics:

• One in five kids struggle with a mental health disorder and yet two-thirds will never seek treatment or care.
• More than 6,600 young people age 15-24 die by suicide each year, and 1.2 million teens visit the emergency room each year for suicidal ideation or attempts.
• 17.1 million young people in the US will have a mental health disorder by age 18. That's more than the number with AIDS, asthma, diabetes, cancer, and peanut allergy combined. Common diagnoses include depression, anxiety, ADHD, dyslexia, autism, and eating disorders.
• Half of mental health disorders begin before age 14 and 75% by age 24.
• 80% of kids with an anxiety disorder aren't treated.
• 60% of kids with depression go untreated.
• 40% of kids with ADHD do not get treatment.

Since 2017, the Child Mind Institute's annual mental health awareness campaigns have featured notable individuals including Emma Stone, Bill Hader, Margot Robbie, Octavia Spencer, Andrew Garfield, Reese Witherspoon, Antoni Porowski, Gabrielle Union, Jameela Jamil, Gillian Anderson, Jesse Eisenberg, Jonah Hill, Julianne Hough, Kevin Love, Lena Dunham, Mark Ronson, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Phelps, Missy Franklin, Misty Copeland, Sarah Silverman, Zoey Deutch, Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Bo Burnham, Emma Chamberlain and more.