Lorain County saw a rise over the past several years in hospitalizations for self-harm or suicidal thoughts among teenagers, and a rise in suicides among individuals in their 20s, according to the county's 2025 Community Health Assessment.
Teenage girls 15 to 19 years old had the highest rates of emergency department visits for self-harm and suicidal thoughts, with more than 260 visits for every 10,000 people in 2024.
One of the central reasons for rising rates of self-harm may be teenage girls' heavy use of social media, said Mitch Dandurand, Lorain County Public Health's epidemiology supervisor.
"They use ... TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, which are very visual platforms," he said. "And that's where you get exposure to the body imaging and perfectionism. And that kind of has a close link to depression in general."
Use of social media also affects sleep patterns, causing additional problems, Dandurand said.
"That really affects their sleep patterns, so they're up later on their phones," he said. "Sleep is so important for anyone's mental health, especially that age group when your brain is still developing."
According to a 2023 advisory by the U.S. Surgeon General, there is a consistent relationship between social media use and poor sleep quality, reduced sleep duration, sleep difficulties and depression among youth.
The Lorain County Health Department is partnering with area schools by having counselors work with students to build coping mechanisms when using social media, said Sam Meluch, Lorain County Public Health's population health team member.
The counselors also work to detect problems in students and refer students and their families to services, she said.
The counselors are also using a tool to track when students seek help for behavioral health concerns. The tool allows counselors to identify trends and track referrals.
The public health agency is also working with its partners to provide students with ways to address social isolation, such as giving them safe places to gather after school, said Erin Murphy, the agency's director of population.
“We've had communities invest a lot of dollars into community parks to fix them up and make them safer, add lights, get them cleaned up," she said. "Giving a place that they can go and just be with one another.”
Officials are completing a county-wide survey of youth over the next two to three months to identify more potential solutions, Murphy said. So far, the agency has surveyed about 70 youth, she said.
