Kids Head Back to School—and Bring Covid-19’s Mental-Health Scars With Them

MONTEREY PARK, Calif.—JR Dzubak was breaking up a fistfight between a group of high-school boys in July when he had a moment of doubt. What if he wasn’t doing enough?

The chief executive of a Boys & Girls Club in Los Angeles County has spent the past 18 months watching the pandemic wreak havoc on the mental health of his club’s children. When more kids returned to the club in person in the spring, many seemed listless and distracted, said Mr. Dzubak, who, at 50, has worked for the Boys & Girls Clubs since he was a 16-year-old counselor in training. Children sat by themselves or in small groups. Some kids acted out, cursing and shoving each other.

The club’s counselors have reported that more children and teens are having suicidal thoughts. A few began cutting themselves.

Mr. Dzubak hired a “Kindness Director” to teach the children ways to improve their mood, such as practicing yoga and identifying things they are grateful for. He installed a big blue couch in the game room of the main clubhouse where youngsters could immediately find an adult to talk with.

And this summer, he launched the club’s most ambitious project yet, an eight-week program to help middle- and high-schoolers deal with challenges and build social connections. Club staff teach the children to identify problems such as depression and anxiety, and how to ask for help.