Opinion: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore: How to improve young men’s mental health

OpinionFirst Opinion Maryland Gov. Wes Moore: How to improve young men’s mental health States must lead in the effort to combat young men’s loneliness, despair, and disengagement Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article By Wes MooreJuly 1, 2026 Moore is the governor of Maryland. When we talk about men’s mental health, we tend to focus on what men are not doing: Not going to therapy. Not opening up. Not doing the work. If the hope was to shame men into better mental health, it has not worked.Advertisement In Maryland, the male suicide nearly rate is four times the rate for women. Nationwide, suicide has climbed by more than a third since 2010 for young men. In Maryland and the country overall, the data track the same arc: rising deaths of despair, rising loneliness, rising disengagement from school and work. The data send a clear message: We need to stop treating our young men and boys as problems to be solved, and start treating them as people to be invested in. My administration’s governing philosophy is to leave no one behind, regardless of their gender or background. As the father of a son and a daughter, I want both of my children to grow up with all of their God-honoring and God-given opportunities.Advertisement But to realize the full potential and power of Maryland’s people, and America’s more broadly, we need to make sure our men and boys aren’t still falling behind. I strongly believe our mission to uplift men and boys isn’t in conflict with our value to leave no one behind — it’s in concert with them. But behind those numbers is a message we have allowed our culture to send to young men: that they are unnecessary. The truth is the opposite. We need them in our families, classrooms, workplaces, and communities. If we want them to believe it, we have to act like it. That starts with understanding why our systems keep missing them. Young men and boys experience distress the same way anyone does, but they tend to express it differently. Boys are more likely to act out, take risks, or shut down. We have taught them that men should address those feelings with stoicism. The result is a quiet crisis. A boy who is depressed gets labeled defiant. A young man addicted to sports betting is labeled irresponsible. We view young men as liabilities requiring protection or management, rather than assets with significant potential. We code mental health needs as behavioral problems, and we respond with control instead of care. In Maryland, we’re flipping that script. In 2025, I directed my administration to implement solutions across the government to help young men and boys. Last year, we launched the Young Men and Boys Initiative — the first statewide effort dedicated to coordinating support for young men and boys across agencies, sectors, and communities. The idea is simple: What young men really need are opportunities to be useful, to belong, and to be seen. Four of our priorities show what that looks like in practice. The first is service. When I ran for governor, I made the case that Maryland should be a state of service, and we created the Service Year Option to make a paid year of service available to every high school graduate. Since 2023, more than 1,600 Marylanders have started this program, serving in all 24 jurisdictions.Advertisement Service is sticky. When you’re serving side by side, you build bonds with people who are different from you and whom you likely wouldn’t have otherwise met. You develop a deeper empathy and understanding of others. And, together, you create a community where everyone can thrive. The second is teachers. In December 2025, my administration announced the first round of grants from our $19 million Grow Your Own Educators program, which is designed in part to recruit and retain more male teachers. Just 23% of Maryland teachers are men, and around 33% are people of color. Yet boys spend more waking hours with teachers and coaches than with almost any other adults outside their families. A male teacher who shows up consistently and models what it looks like to handle stress without exploding or disappearing is doing public mental health work, whether or not we call it that. Increasing the number of men in classrooms is not only an education priority. It is one of the most cost-effective prevention strategies available to us. The third is the digital environment itself. In partnership with the Child Mind Institute and the Boys and Girls Clubs, my administration released the Maryland Youth Digital Wellness Playbook, a practical guide for young people, parents, and educators on building healthier habits online. The playbook is hosted by the Governor’s Office for Children and distributed through more than 80 Boys and Girls Club locations across the state. Boys are not the only audience for this work, but they are a central one. These platforms that drive comparison and isolation also feed predatory sports betting, exploitative content, and the kind of solitary scrolling that displaces sleep, friendship, and exercise. Giving Marylanders the tools to navigate that environment is, in itself, mental health work. The fourth is crisis response. Maryland has a suicide rate that has been lower than the national average over the past decade, but even a recent slight increase suggests our work is far from done. In 2024, I signed bipartisan legislation to expand and sustain Maryland’s 988 crisis line, ensuring stable funding to improve technology, hire more staff, reduce wait times, and better connect Marylanders in crisis to the care they need. My administration has also launched targeted advertising on Maryland’s 988 crisis line, including in spaces more likely to reach men, such as at sporting events.Advertisement None of this is a complete answer. The forces eroding young men’s well-being — whether it’s economic precarity, online radicalization, the collapse of in-person community, and predatory gambling markets — are bigger than any one state can solve alone and in full. But states can — and must — lead. And we must lead without falling into either of the two traps that dominate the national conversation: pretending the problem does not exist, or treating young men as a problem to be managed. Public health, clinical leaders, and educators have a role here, too. When a teacher, coach, counselor, pediatrician, or school psychologist sees a boy who is withdrawing, escalating, or acting out, that should prompt care. Closing the gap between how boys show distress and how systems recognize it is one of the most important shifts our health care system can make. June marked Men’s Health Month — a moment for awareness campaigns and screenings, both of which matter. This year I want to make an additional ask. Let’s stop telling boys what they are failing to do. Instead, let’s start showing them, through real opportunities and real relationships, that we need them. It is the message every young man deserves to hear. Wes Moore is the governor of Maryland. STAT’s coverage of health challenges facing men and boys is supported by Rise Together, a donor advised fund sponsored and administered by National Philanthropic Trust and established by Richard Reeves, founding president of the American Institute for Boys and Men; and by the Boston Foundation. Our financial supporters are not involved in any decisions about our journalism. Letter to the editor Have an opinion on this essay? 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