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Karen Siska-Creel, Anne Arundel County’s school health and support director, knows from experience that if a problem pops up in the community, it won’t take long for it to appear in schools. When the opioid epidemic began to spread in Anne Arundel County around 2016, Siska-Creel saw local fire departments establish pop-up stations to help people suffering from addiction. But it wasn’t until a high schooler pleaded with school nurses and the health department for help with their addiction that she realized the depth of need in the public school system.

Adolescents across the country have increasingly suffered from anxiety and depression over the last 10 years, and school officials in Prince George’s County noticed the same trend locally.