An article by Jordan Beatty, RCC
Teenage mental health has become a growing concern in Vancouver. Local surveys show a steady decline in how young people rate their own well-being. But the findings also reveal important differences between groups and can help explain why many teenagers who need mental health support never actually receive it.
Fewer Vancouver teenagers rate their mental health as good or excellent than a decade ago: 63% in 2023, down from 81% in 2013. About one in six said they needed mental health care in the past year but did not get it. The most common reason was because they did not want a parent to know. And, local research also suggests that its low mood, more than phone use, that is leaving teens feeling disconnected.
In 2023, 63% of Vancouver students in grades 7 to 12 rated their mental health as good or excellent. Five years earlier the figure was 75%, and ten years earlier it was 81% (McCreary Centre Society, 2024). These figures come from one of the largest youth surveys in Canada.
Conversations about teenagers and mental health usually tend to be able smart phone use or at least involve them. However, local research points somewhere slightly different, and it is worth knowing what it says if you are a parent trying to make sense of a change in your teenager, or if you are a young adult looking back at your own teenage years.
What the survey found in Vancouver
The BC Adolescent Health Survey is run every five years by the McCreary Centre Society, a Vancouver-based nonprofit. In 2023, about 38,500 students aged 12 to 19 completed the survey in 59 of BC's 60 school districts. The Vancouver report covers students in Vancouver's public schools.
The gap between groups is wide. In Vancouver, 74% of boys rated their mental health as good or excellent, compared with 55% of girls and 15% of non-binary youth (McCreary Centre Society, 2024). However, a single statistical average actually hides the teenagers who are struggling most.
Why many teenagers do not get help
Seventeen percent of Vancouver students said they needed mental health services in the past year but did not get them. That number is up from 10% in 2013. Asked why they didn’t and the most common answer was that they did not want a parent or guardian to know (57%). Close behind this was hoping that the problem would go away by itself (56%) and also not knowing where to go for support (46%) (McCreary Centre Society, 2024).
Those three reasons are worth reading slowly. Only 6% said they were on a waiting list. The most common barriers were privacy, hope, and uncertainty. In my work as a therapist who specializes in youth, I think of these as barriers rather than as a lack of motivation: the young person usually has the capacity to get better, and something is standing in their way of starting.
Phones, low mood and feeling disconnected
A study at five secondary schools in and around the Lower Mainland surveyed 1,753 students between October 2020 and May 2021. Students who reported more symptoms of depression were more likely to say they felt disconnected from other people but smartphone addiction, which was measured separately, was not linked to feeling disconnected (Parent et al., 2022).
This was a pandemic-era study, and it does not mean screens never matter. What the study suggests rather is a different starting point than screens or phones. A teenager who has gone quiet and spends hours on their phone may be withdrawing because their mood is low, and taking the phone away does not reach the low mood.
What keeps young people mentally well
A UBC study asked 35 young people aged 15 to 25 across BC what supports their mental health. Four things came up again and again: having friendships built on trust and give-and-take, supportive relationships at home, safe and welcoming places to be creative or think aloud, and volunteering or advocacy that gave them a sense of purpose (Chaplin et al., 2025).
None of these is a treatment in themselves but are the conditions and environments that young people described as protective, and most of them are things a family, a school or a community can easily make room for.
What this means if you are a parent
Changes in mood in your teenager are usually more telling than changes in screen time. Withdrawal from friends, losing interest in things they used to enjoy, sleeping much more or much less, and irritability that does not lift are all things worth noticing.
Because privacy is the main reason teenagers avoid help, it helps to talk about it openly with them. Counselling for young people is confidential within limits that a counsellor explains at the start, and a teenager who knows that is more likely to go.
Foundry offers free, confidential mental health services for young people aged 12 to 24 across BC, in person and online. If a young person is ever unable to keep themselves safe, call or text 9-8-8, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, or go to the nearest emergency department.
I work with teenagers aged 14 and up, as well as young adults, in person in Burnaby and online across BC. When I meet a young person, my aim is to understand why something is happening, not to judge that it is happening. A free consultation is a reasonable way for a parent, or a teenager, to ask questions before deciding anything.
Common questions about teenage mental health in and around Vancouver
Is teen mental health getting worse in BC?
Self-rated mental health has fallen over the past decade. In Vancouver, 63% of students rated their mental health as good or excellent in 2023, compared with 81% in 2013.
Why won't my teenager tell me they are struggling?
In the 2023 BC survey, not wanting a parent to know was the most common reason teenagers missed out on mental health care. It often reflects a wish for privacy rather than a problem with the relationship.
Is my teenager's phone causing their depression?
The research is mixed. A Lower Mainland study found that depression, not smartphone addiction, was linked to teens feeling disconnected, so low mood is worth looking at directly.
Where can a teenager in Vancouver get free counselling?
Foundry offers free, confidential services for young people aged 12 to 24 across BC, in person and online. School counsellors and family doctors can also help with referrals.
What helps teenagers stay mentally well?
Young people in a BC study pointed to trusting friendships, supportive family relationships, welcoming places to be themselves, and a sense of purpose through volunteering or advocacy.
About Jordan Beatty, RCC and counselling for young people
I am a counsellor based in Burnaby, BC. I work with youth and adults on anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, life transitions and substance use, in person in Burnaby, Vancouver, and online across British Columbia.
I have spent about ten years working with young people, as a coach and in youth outreach in the Lower Mainland, and two years as a youth counsellor at a nonprofit. I work with teenagers from 14 and up and with young adults, and I help them understand what is getting in the way and work out what they want to change.
I offer a free 20-minute consultation for you to get a sense of what it would be like to work with me, ask any questions you might have, and decide if we are the right fit.
