When Prevention Isn't Enough: Kristy Packer on the Youth Mental Health Crisis

Kristy Packer grew up in Fremont, California, and has long been passionate about mental health. To help address this crisis, she became a peer advocate, a role in which students are professionally trained to help their peers through difficult times. Yet this kind of program is less common in schools nationwide due to funding, raising the question: Is students’ well-being truly a priority for schools? To explore this, we sat down with Kristy Packer to better understand the issue.

Packer originally worked at the Alameda County Office of Education, where she focused on peer education and managed the Youth Advisory Board for Alameda County (YAB). One of the key issues she has focused on is Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE). According to the CDC, the number of high school students using tobacco products decreased from 12.6% to 10.1% between 2023 and 2024. In addition, youth tobacco sales have declined, but Packer pointed out that lower sales do not necessarily mean students are no longer accessing these products. Instead, they may be receiving them from other peers, a trend known as co-usage.

This issue was one of the reasons YAB nearly ended in 2025–2026. Since tobacco sales have decreased, and the education department receives a portion of that revenue through initiatives like Proposition 56, passed in 2016, less funding may be available for related positions and programs. As a result, Packer’s role at ACOE was no longer needed, leading her to a new position with the California Youth Advocacy Network (CYAN). CYAN is a statewide technical assistance center that supports youth and young adults in creating equitable, sustainable change to advance overall community health, and she now serves as the Youth Training Coordinator.

Packer emphasizes that prevention is working, as shown by the statistics, but intervention may not be. In other words, efforts to stop students from starting to use these products have been successful, yet students who are currently using them are not always receiving the support they need.

A key misunderstanding, Packer explained, is that adults often treat substance use or behavioral issues as purely individual choices. As she put it, “In reality, the behavior is often just the surface of deeper challenges, such as stress, safety concerns, mental health issues, academic pressure, and broader social instability, all of which shape student decision-making. Addressing only the behavior without examining the root causes rarely leads to lasting change.”

She also emphasized that systemic factors matter. Students today face heightened stress from uncertainty about the economy, the national climate, academic expectations, and their own futures. Many feel a lack of hope or community, which can intensify mental health challenges and increase vulnerability to substance use or risky coping strategies. Some products, such as nicotine pouches, are even marketed or informally used as stimulants to help students stay awake or manage academic pressure.

Because of this, Packer argues that punitive responses like suspension are often ineffective when addressing substance use. Removing students from school rarely solves the underlying problem and can sometimes worsen isolation or stress. Instead, she advocated for restorative approaches such as quit-support groups, counseling pathways, and school-based intervention systems. Organizations like Kick It California are currently working to expand student-focused quitting programs, but access remains limited in many regions.

Another major concern she raised was discipline disparities. Students of color are disproportionately suspended compared to peers with similar academic performance or behavioral records, suggesting that punishment systems often reflect broader societal inequities rather than individual student risk. According to Packer, effective youth support must consider intersectionality by recognizing how stress, mental health, identity, and environment overlap.

Despite these challenges, Packer remains hopeful about the role students themselves can play in building a healthier school culture. Peer education programs, she says, are especially powerful because students often feel more comfortable speaking with someone their own age. When schools normalize conversations about mental health and make support systems visible ( whether through anonymous reporting tools, peer advocate programs, or accessible QR code resource links ), help becomes easier to reach.

She also stresses the importance of teaching young people how to recognize warning signs in themselves and others. Programs like Teen Mental Health First Aid train students to identify early signs of crisis and guide peers toward professional support, though such initiatives require funding that many districts currently lack. Even simple awareness of resources such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline can make a critical difference.

Ultimately, Packer believes the most important message for students is that no one is expected to handle everything alone. Building supportive communities among peers, counselors, families, and local organizations is essential for addressing the growing youth mental health crisis. While systems may not be perfect, she says, creating spaces where students feel seen, supported, and hopeful is one of the most powerful forms of prevention available today.