On-the-Ground—Advocating for Student Mental Health: The Power of Data and Programs

Mental health challenges continue to plague Illinois’ students, permeating the fabric of our school communities in both the K-12 and postsecondary spaces. While student mental health impacts every type of student, two professionals discuss why Illinois cannot ignore how students from marginalized communities are uniquely affected by these issues. 

Making the Case for Data

One such community is the LGBTQ+ student population. Daniel Wilson, a PhD candidate in the Policy Studies in Urban Education program in the College of Education at the University of Illinois Chicago argues for increased, quality assessment of these populations in the postsecondary sector. 

Pulling from national datasets, Wilson recently submitted a paper examining the impacts of financial hardship and housing instability on mental health and academic performance in LGBTQ+ Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) student communities. He found that a lack of access to these basic needs led to diminished mental health, prompting a negative perception of their sense of belonging in the larger campus community. When compounded, these factors hurt academic success. These impacts were even greater for transgender and non-binary BIPOC students. At the Illinois state level, this also rings true. According to Advance Illinois’ The State We’re In 2025: A Report on Public Education in Illinois, 63.2% of LGBTQ+ students and 75.9% of transgender college students felt that their emotional or mental challenges have more recurring ramifications on their academics. In 2024, 46.5% of postsecondary students in Illinois reported their mental health has impacted their academic performance in the last month, an increase from 24.6% in 2007. While sobering, this data should compel Illinois to make strides toward more intentional assessment of their LGBTQ+ student communities, specifically at the institutional level.

Wilson highlights that data on LGBTQ+ students is often not institutionalized across educational systems and assessment methods are often incomplete and inadequate. For example, gender identity is often collected on a binary system and sexual orientation is often not collected at all. Without data that accurately measures how mental health concerns distinctly affect LGBTQ+ students, institutions cannot provide resources and services designed to mitigate the impact of these challenges. Put plainly- LGBTQ+ students’ experiences become invisible. Wilson reflects “It is important that policy makers think of ways to accurately and meaningfully collect data on LGBTQ+ people so that they are able to be visible within data systems.” 

Wilson reflects that while it is not misleading to say that Illinois is supportive of LGBTQ+ communities, LGBTQ+ students in Illinois do face barriers to basic needs that are detrimental to their mental health. As an advocate for improved assessment of LGBTQ+ students, he contends that data can forge meaningful partnerships in service to these communities. “LGBTQ+ data needs to be institutionalized...it could be used to inform [the exact] number of LGBTQ + students that are experiencing food insecurity, housing insecurity, so how can we then ensure that we are building partnerships and cultivating a community of care to support LGBTQ+ communities.” But before those partnerships and programs are built, good data must be collected. 

It's clear that the role of data is significant. When collected and assessed correctly, it can be a powerful impetus for programmatic development uniquely designed to meet student mental health needs. Ngozi Harris, Director of Program and Staff Development for the Working on Womanhood (WOW) program at Youth Guidance, speaks to the realm of possibilities when data is put into action. 

Data in Action: Strong Student Programming

Founded in 2011 by a group of female social workers led by former Youth Guidance Director Gail Day, WOW is a school-based counseling program that supports young girls in grades 6-12 who have been exposed to trauma in the development of their social-emotional competencies. The program is informed by Cognitive-Behavioral, Acceptance Commitment, and Narrative Therapy and is specifically structured as a group counseling program to address the social isolation commonly felt among young girls.  One of WOW’s core values is providing opportunity for students to be in community with their peers and to learn emotional intelligence. When schools reported the impact of the Becoming a Man (BAM) program’s group counseling for its male students, the potential of what would become WOW became even more apparent. 

WOW continues to be critical given that mental health challenges among K-12 students in Illinois have persisted, as highlighted by The State We’re In 2025 report. Increasing percentages (29.6% in 2009 to 40.4% in 2023) of students in Illinois have reported feeling sadness and hopelessness. More specifically, female high school students are more likely to experience these feelings, with 51.6% of female students reporting feelings of sadness and hopelessness compared to 25% of male students in 2023.

Echoing Wilson’s arguments regarding the postsecondary sector, Harris further underscores how powerful a student’s sense of belonging can be in determining their academic performance. Primarily serving young, Black and Latina girls in under resourced Chicago communities, Harris notes that WOW removes the burden on students to find a sense of belonging, which in turns cultivates space for them redirect their energy into learning: “We know that trauma will impact how you are able to engage in education, how you will be able to engage in relationships...when you experience trauma, it starts to rewire your brain to see the world as a threat. If you’re walking around seeing the world as a threat, everything becomes a threat. That means all your energy, all your resources are focused in on ‘I'm here, I’m locked in on surviving. I’m doing whatever it takes to survive, mentally, physically, emotionally.’ It is unreasonable to expect students carrying such immense burdens to engage fully in a math or English course.”

Prior to the pandemic, WOW conducted mental health assessments to screen for anxiety, trauma, depression, and PTSD exposure. A core part of the WOW model, these assessments informed how to grow the program. During the shift back to in-person programming, WOW refined its curriculum to better incorporate best practices that can support students’ feelings of social isolation and ongoing anxieties caused by adversities faced during pandemic. For example, WOW has refined its curriculum to include sessions dedicated to unpacking the complex role of social media in young women’s lives. Participants can explore how social media can be incorporated into their lives healthily, with the understanding that social media can serve as both as an escape as well as a trigger. 

Harris notes that due to broader community issues related to resource availability, schools are the ideal space for reaching students. Students facing trauma exposure often carry familial and work responsibilities that limit the time available to join counseling programs after the school day.

Looking Ahead

It is imperative to acknowledge that there are community-led efforts in Illinois to address mental health related concerns for LGBTQ+ and students of color, as demonstrated in the protest against UI health system’s pause on gender affirming care for patients under 19 years old. As the new findings on student mental health and well-being in Illinois suggest, it is equally important to recognize that there is substantial opportunity for both the state of Illinois and education institutions to expand how they mitigate these challenges. Building a healthy foundation means creating assessment methods that capture evolving nuances related to identity, institutionalizing that data, and funding programs like WOW that reflect what the data shows. Strong data and programming are core pillars to building resilient student communities, which ultimately supports their holistic success. 

Isabel Enad is a Senior Community Engagement Associate for Advance Illinois.

In Conversation with Andy Krackov: The Urgency and Impact of Data Storytelling

Andy Krackov, Founder of Hillcrest Advisory

As federal investments in data collection and infrastructure face mounting cuts, the ability of state systems to make informed, equitable decisions in education (and across every governmental sector impacting day-to-day life in the United States) stands at a critical crossroads. So we were thrilled this summer for the opportunity to connect with Andy Krackov, founder of the data storytelling consultancy, Hillcrest Advisory, for a timely conversation on the power of data insights to drive meaningful change. 

In this special Q&A, Krackov offers an example of how data is being used to inform and mobilize communities to action, and discusses the unique impact and potential of data storytelling. And as he explores what is at stake if cuts to federal data collection capacity and systems are not reversed and persist, Krackov also reflects on what could be some opportunities in this moment.

Advance Illinois: Hillcrest Advisory has done considerable work around child well-being, which is actually a priority area for Advance Illinois. Would you talk to us about a recent time the consultancy worked to use data in that realm to share key information and inspire action? What was the problem, and what was the solution?

Andy Krackov: For roughly the past five years, Hillcrest Advisory has been working on a project in California to address adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The state of California has committed significant resources to training clinicians across the state to screen for ACEs – in both children and adults – so that we can help individuals with high ACE scores recognize and heal from their trauma. Through the statewide ACEs Aware initiative, we’ve been publishing an array of county-level breakdowns about trainings and screenings.

One of my favorite things to do is to travel to communities across the state, and share these data at local meetings. I’ve done that, for example, in rural Tehama County in far Northern California, and it’s so exciting to see how a community like that can collaboratively review its data, then generate ideas for how to improve service offerings – in this case to ensure that local clinicians are trained to screen for and address ACEs among their adolescent population.

What is it about quantitative data that can drive action, drive change in ways anecdotes and longer, straightforward storytelling cannot?

I like to think of what’s needed for effective communication as data + story. Sure, they can both exist on their own, but it’s best when we can integrate them. A well-told, poignant story draws us in, capturing our attention, while the data can help convey prevalence and degree – that is, the data signal to us that it’s not just an issue with this one person whose story we’re telling. The data help us see that this is a community-wide problem that we need to come together to address. 

I give a lot of data storytelling trainings, and there’s a quote that I often turn to to help explain why we need data + story. It’s from a 2021 New Yorker article, “What Data Can’t Do,” by a mathematician, Hannah Fry: 

“Numbers are a poor substitute for the richness and color of the real world. It might seem odd that a professional mathematician…would work to convince you of this fact. But to recognize the limitations of a data-driven view of reality is not to downplay its might. It’s possible for two things to be true: for numbers to come up short before the nuances of reality, while also being the most powerful instrument we have when it comes to understanding that reality.”

“A well-told, poignant story draws us in, capturing our attention, while the data can help convey prevalence and degree – that is, the data signal to us that it’s not just an issue with this one person whose story we’re telling. The data help us see that this is a community-wide problem that we need to come together to address.”

— Andy Krackov

In your recent blog on Nightingale, you mentioned speaking with someone who described what’s happening to the U.S. data infrastructure right now as a ‘slow data rot’. What is meant by this, and are you and your team beginning to see it or residually hear about it in your work with clients? What kinds of things are at stake if, to continue the metaphor, termites continue to eat at the house?

A lot of what’s happening now with our federal data infrastructure isn’t necessarily headline-grabbing. Let’s take an example. The Education Department’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), whose tagline is “Empowering Education with Accurate, Timely, and Nonpartisan Statistical Products” but may be hamstrung from doing just that in the coming years. Staff have been laid off and funding has been cut, and all of this invariably will impact the quality of NCES’ data collection and reporting, which communities across the country rely on to support education improvements. 

But we may not necessarily see these changes immediately – it will be a slow rot. Let’s take another example. The Census Bureau provides data on local-level poverty – a fundamentally important measure – through its annual American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS data we now use likely won’t be impacted by staff and program cuts. These data are from surveys conducted a few years back, given that it takes a year or two for the Census Bureau to process, analyze, and publish the data. For example, we’re now using the 2023 ACS poverty data.

But what about the 2025 data that would be released in roughly 2027? It’s conceivable that staff and budget cuts could delay the release of those data and potentially impact how much data are available for release if budget cuts mean the sample size is reduced. As a result, rural communities may not be able to get poverty data. In addition, however, the Census’ federal advisory committees, which provide important external input on Census data offerings, including the ACS, are now disbanded, and this calls into question the trust and accuracy of future surveys. Can we trust the ACS data on poverty that will be released in a few years? The interplay that happens when a federal agency collaborates with advisory committees helps us know we can trust the data, so without these partnerships, our faith in federal data may diminish in the coming years. 

This is all part of that slow rot – we don’t see it now, but the damage that’s been done could be exposed a few years from now, when it’s harder to simply patch up the foundation. 

What you described sounds deeply troubling – no, we won’t see effects immediately but when they do begin to emerge in efforts like the next Census, to your point, the implications of a reduced or less-supported infrastructure would be broad and to a lasting effect. From a glass half-full perspective, however—and not at all to diminish the gravity and urgency of this moment we are in where it is critical that cuts to federal data collecting efforts and infrastructure are reversed—is there a second lens through which you’re simultaneously challenging yourself to see this moment, where there is possibly opportunity for helpful innovation? What comes up for you here?

I’m glad you highlighted opportunities. There is a sliver of hope regarding what’s to come with data access, and maybe that will grow into something more substantial as the realization of federal data cuts begins to hit home. I’ve already talked to a number of people who see opportunity with these cuts to revamp measures and to look for more efficient ways to collect data for core indicators such as poverty or reading proficiency. I launched an informal group of individuals in California – I live near San Francisco and do work across the state – who want to respond to the federal data threats by making sure that local communities across the state still have access to needed data. In the coming weeks, this group will begin to explore new ways to capture data we use for local decision-making. 

I know there are efforts underway in other states, too – I’ve heard from Advance Illinois about the work being done there to address federal data threats. We’re going to need to find ways to come together across states to share ideas – and perhaps even agree on similar standards so that we can compare data across states. In other words, if the federal government won’t make it easy for us to compare, say, health insurance rates in communities across states, could we build some kind of federated, decentralized model to do just that? Building this may not seem realistic now, but, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

This has been a couple years in the making, actually preceding what's happening at the federal level, but the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is actually set to release its Children’s Adversity Index this month. It is our hope that this tool will help local, district, and state leaders make more targeted arguments for funding, support, and policy change that fosters healthier community environments and supports greater child resilience. 

With that in mind, what are some actions everyday people can take (particularly when it comes to child well-being) to highlight the importance of good data and strong data infrastructure?

As a first step, use the data that we have now to help you understand how your community is faring. Data tools like Census Reporter, County Health Rankings, and the Child Opportunity Index make it easy for you to access and interpret data for where you live. I bet the Children’s Adversity Index will fill a similar role for people doing meaningful work across Illinois. 

I work on one such data tool, AARP’s Livability Index (it’s about overall livability, not just livability for seniors), so I know first-hand what goes into creating tools like this and how valuable they can be to everyday individuals – for example, when making decisions about where to purchase or rent a home. 

What’s important to know about these tools is that federal data helps fuel their offerings, so without such data, city planners, school boards, city councils and county supervisors won’t have the data they need to improve our communities. That’s a problem that our elected officials in Congress should know about. So what else can you do? Tell your Senators and House members that you’re concerned about threats to federal data.

One last question, a bonus. If you had to narrow your must-have considerations/mindsets/elements for making a data storytelling project effective to just three things, what would they be?

I’d say it’s vital to know who you want to reach – that is, what specific audience will most benefit from the information you need to share – as well as what action you want that audience to take. In my data storytelling workshops, I remind participants that understanding our audiences and their information needs help us get out of our own mindset. After all, we already know the data, so building a data story that’s meaningful to us isn’t necessary. What we need to do is find ways to present the findings that are relatable to others, so think about your audiences’ needs.

I’ll cheat, and call ‘audience and action’ one consideration. A second consideration is weaving in story elements – a narrative about an individual, quotes, photos/videos – that add needed context to the numbers you’re sharing. When I’m working on a data storytelling project with clients, I not only ask for spreadsheets to see the data they want to convey, but also for story elements so that we can integrate the so-vital human experience. As noted above, we need the heart and head for effective communication about policy matters.

Finally, I think it’s important to recognize that there are an array of freely available data storytelling tools to help you communicate effectively with data. My go-to tools are Infogram, Flourish, and Datawrapper, all of which have pretty robust free offerings. Give them a try. They’ll definitely help up your data storytelling game.

Andy Krackov runs the data storytelling consultancy, Hillcrest Advisory, that works with universities, government agencies, nonprofits, and others in the social sector to help them communicate data findings. Krackov last month wrote a blog post for the Data Visualization Society on how threats to federal data may impact communities across the country.