What’s Weighing on Us? Mental Health Check-In

Northern Michigan mental health professionals share the concerns, pressures, and patterns showing up in their practices

By Kelsey Sanders | Nov. 7, 2026

Between the demands of work and family, the constant stream of news and social media, and the uncertainty of the world around us, there’s plenty to weigh on our minds. But how are those pressures showing up in our mental health, what patterns are therapists noticing, and what steps can people take to care for their minds and emotions?

Are the Kids All Right?

“I think from my perspective, [the way kids are expressing anxiety and depression] really comes from an attachment to screens,” says Steve Andrews, a counselor at Kids Creek Family Counseling LLC. “I know when I was growing up, punishments could mean not going to see friends, being withheld from a sport, extra chores, etc., and now I feel like parents remove technology and that seems to be the main driver. We’re running into parents who say, ‘Well, I took their electronics away, and then the behavior continued,’ and it almost seems like some kids are really struggling to connect with anything outside of a screen.”

Ty Curtis, Korey Mack, and Andrews all work with children ages 4+ through Kids Creek Family Counseling LLC, but all three professionals tend to see more “tweens,” kids ages 9-13. They work with kids trying to survive bullying and figure out how to move from being a little kid to a teenager in a world full of technology.

“There is a lot of pressure to stay constantly connected that did not exist even five or 10 years ago,” Curtis explains. “That’s a lot for anybody’s brain or nervous system to manage, but especially a young, developing human being’s. They might have all the adult-level feelings and thoughts but not necessarily have developed the adult-level capacities to manage and prioritize and organize it all.”

Mack also sees a lot of kids struggling because of technology.

“I see a lot of anxiety, depression, and a good amount of OCD that I see as well,” she says. “It seems like we’re managing screens more than we’re managing behaviors. … Screens have become a kind of cure-all for kiddos, and so we’re seeing kids who are needing connection, and they’re searching for that inside of a screen when it’s right in front of them where they need the connection to be occurring. That is really a huge focus that we need to tackle with parents—getting them to participate with their kids in a connective way.”

Something else the therapists at Kids Creek are noticing more than they used to is the abuse of substances such as e-cigarettes and marijuana.

“The impact that we’re seeing is that marijuana usage and the strength of what kids are able to access now is causing far more detrimental effects than when many of us were younger,” Andrews says. “Now that it’s showing up as gummies and far more engaging ways than just smoking it, we’re seeing kids really rely on it. We’ve seen kids who would end up in the hospital because they were smoking such heavy doses of certain things that were causing almost psychotic episodes within kids.”

When It’s Time to Seek Help

Beyond the obvious signs of self-harm behavior or talk or violent behavior, it may be time to seek help for your child if you notice they are more reserved, isolating themselves more, sleeping more or being more private, or their personality has changed (either way—much quieter or much more outgoing).

“I say when you notice something is beyond normal,” Curtis says. “I try to be thoughtful that during adolescence especially, but childhood in general, kids are growing and expanding on so many different dimensions, physically, emotionally, relationally. I always use the metaphor of when I’m in a dark room and I walk into bright sunlight, it’s going to be overwhelming to my eyes and I’m going to squint. So it’s not necessarily that they’re having a reaction to the situation, it doesn’t mean that their eyes are broken if they squint, but are they adjusting naturally?”

Mack agrees with Curtis and again highlights the importance of trusted adults in a kid’s life.

“I think that’s a testament to the importance of maintaining a strong connection and being physically present with your child, you notice those cues that their normal has been disrupted,” she says.

Being a Grown-up Is Hard

Sherry Guthrie, MS, LPC, ACS, and owner of Petoskey Professional Counselors, LLC, has worked with adults for 30 years, and she sees concerns ranging from “who I am?” in adults 18-29, “how do I navigate all of this?” amongst the 30-50 age group, and “what have I done with my life?” from the older crowd.

“I’m still seeing many people with the ‘traditional’ concerns—depression, anxiety, life transitioning, in and out of different positions or jobs or relationships,” Guthrie shares. “I think we see a lot of younger people who don’t really know how to communicate well or aren’t astute in interpersonal relationships, which is probably an artifact leftover of this overdependence on screens and social media. My team and I also work with many individuals who have suffered from trauma.”

Guthrie’s practice tends to see more women than men—roughly 60-65 percent of their patients are women—and the age range they see the most in counseling are those 30-39.

In addition to the “usuals” (i.e., anxiety, depression, and searching for oneself), Guthrie has noticed an increase in those who are particularly worried about the current climate of life.

“A lot of people come in and are worried about the political environment, the sociopolitical environment, the protections for people themselves including their children if they are in marginalized groups or LBGTQ+,” she says. “It’s a really big concern. I can’t speak for other cities or urban areas, but people that I work with are just stressed out about the state of the constant barrage of negativity that is occurring in our country.”

Other concerns Guthrie sees are often related to the stage of life the patient is in.

“I see a lot of young adults [ages 18-29] with questions around who am I, what are my relationships like, how do I be the healthiest version of myself, how do I deal with uncertainty, and how do I deal with things that have happened in my past that have affected the way that I see the world or myself?” she explains. “I think the people 30 to 39 are dealing with a lot of how do I raise my kids, what’s most important to my family, what are my values and how do I live them? Those questions plus the struggle between working and raising kids and trying to balance those things.”

As for the right time to get help? Guthrie tells us that “the benefits of coming to counseling are really resiliency, insight, connection” and can help anyone who is looking to understand themselves or increase joy in their life. She says that each person shows up with their own individual pace and path.

“My job is not to tell people what to do, but to help them find and discover the ways that their life is maximized and to honor them where they are, wherever they are,” she says.

Ultimately, taking that first step toward better mental health can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be a journey anyone takes alone.

“It’s very gratifying, it’s very satisfying, and it’s lovely to sit with somebody,” says Guthrie. “I consider it my privilege to be with somebody who chooses me to help them along the way. They do all the hard work.”

Muddling through Marriage and Relationships

A couples therapist with Rooted in Change, Kate Chanda, LLPC, works with couples who face challenges any age, but she notices that some of the most difficult years are when a duo finds themselves in the “sandwich generation,” where they’re raising children, managing careers, and sometimes helping care for aging parents.

“A lot depends on the stage of life a couple is in,” she explains. “Sometimes couples don’t necessarily want out of their marriage, they just want out of the painful cycle they’ve become stuck in. They’ve had the same arguments, experienced the same hurts, and become so emotionally exhausted that they begin to believe leaving is the only way to find relief. That’s where couples counseling can be so helpful. It’s not just about learning better communication skills, it’s also about understanding what's happening underneath those conflicts and helping couples recognize the patterns that keep pulling them apart. We can’t change what we can’t name.”

Chanda also sees a variety of common issues that are dependent on the stage of life of the couple.

“Newly married couples may struggle with expectations, communication, or balancing careers and building a life together,” she says. “New parents are adjusting to an entirely different family dynamic. Couples raising children often struggle to find time for one another, while empty nesters may discover they've spent so many years focusing on their children that they hardly recognize the people they've become. Even retirement brings challenges when couples have different expectations about what that season of life should look like. But underneath many of these challenges, I think there’s a common thread: couples have lost connection with one another.”

Chanda wishes more couples would seek help before things reach a crisis point. She points to early signs of strife, like shutting down emotionally, withdrawing, or avoiding difficult conversations. On the flip side, sometimes couples just recognize that they’re growing apart, or that their relationship just doesn’t feel the same.

“So often, by the time couples come into counseling, there are layers and layers of hurt that have built up over time,” Chanda explains. “Couples counseling doesn’t have to be a last resort. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to slow down, reconnect, and learn how to navigate the challenges of life together before those challenges become overwhelming.”

Wisdom from the Pros

If Chanda could give advice to couples, it would be a reminder that marriage can be hard and that doesn’t necessarily mean something is wrong with their marriage.

“I also remind couples that avoiding difficulties doesn’t necessarily make life easier,” she says. “I want couples to understand that struggling doesn’t automatically mean they’ve married the wrong person or that their relationship is beyond repair. Sometimes it simply means that the ways they’ve learned to relate to one another are no longer working, and they need some help finding a different way forward. Ultimately, I believe healthy relationships aren’t about avoiding or diminishing difficulties, they’re about learning how to work through those difficulties together.”

Guthrie’s advice to individuals seeking more overall balance in life is to prioritize creating and maintaining some kind of wellness/self-care routine, like a secular meditation or religious prayer “or something that helps us to self-reflect on our internal states, that turns our lens inward, and that really helps us to create and nurture a compassionate relationship with ourselves,” she says.

“I always tell people mental health is like physical health,” Guthrie adds. “The brain is an organ, so we need to get enough sleep, we need to feed it with the energy it needs, and we need to exercise regularly.”