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Like many education leaders, I’m alarmed by the youth mental health crisis. However, I’m also surprised by the limited solutions offered to solve such a dilemma.

In a 2022 CDC survey, 15.3% of youth aged 12-to-17 had current diagnoses of anxiety, and 7.5% of the same age group had current depression diagnoses. These numbers are likely a limited snapshot into the true mental health crisis within U.S. youth, as many of their concerns remain undiagnosed due to stigma and/or fear of speaking up.

It may not come as a surprise that women’s mental health is innately different than men’s. Anxiety, depression and eating disorders are more common in women. This gender difference begins to grow particularly during the middle school years; by the end of adolescence, young women experience twice as much depression as young men do, a trend that persists throughout life.

When young women experience poor mental health, their academic performance, social interactions, self-esteem and well-being can each suffer. As students enter into this cycle, they can subject themselves to a lack of motivation, increased feelings of anxiety and depression, social withdrawal — and ultimately — considering dropping out of school altogether.

Middle school students spend nearly two fifths of their waking hours in a classroom setting. What if these classroom hours were spent in an encouraging, safe and single-gender environment to meet students’ unique, gender-specific needs?

As founding principal and now executive director of a public, all-girls middle charter school Girls Athletic Leadership School Los Angeles (GALS LA), our gender-specific education allows us to employ tactics such as movement and wellness-driven curriculum, as well as provide unique mental health offerings.

GALS LA curriculum is built to reflect a restorative community. We have one mental health counselor for every 50 students in our 187-student school, whereas the average U.S. school has one counselor for every 385 students. Our counselors facilitate student mediations, and young women are taught how to use their words to calmly address and resolve conflicts.

Students and staff begin each morning with a school-wide morning workout, releasing endorphins which build students’ confidence, focus and emotional regulation. Students then recite a daily pledge consisting of positive affirmations to reinforce positive behaviors and redirect negative ones.

Each day, students also attend a class focused on effective coping strategies, healthy communication and general wellness practices. This class integrates social-emotional learning, which allows students to improve interactions with each other, maintain a respectful and supportive culture and provide opportunities for healthy relationships.

Middle school is often a time of fast-paced physical, social and emotional development for all young people. Single-gender environments provide unique settings for students to undergo this development with their peers in a safe and comfortable space with students who share similar experiences.

According to a report by the International National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, students at all-girls schools (89%) are more likely than their female peers at public, co-ed schools (72%) to feel comfortable, be themselves and focus on their academic studies. The same survey found that those at all-girls schools reported being less likely to be bullied by classmates (86%) than female peers at public, co-ed schools (73%). When young women feel comfortable at school, they tend to thrive.

We can see this mental well-being play out through both our average attendance rate of 96.5% as well as our successful academic model. Our rigorous college prep curriculum outperforms local schools in both math and reading, and GALS LA students exceed California students’ reading proficiency rates by 10 percentage points.

Of course, not every school can pivot to a single-gender design. But they can still adopt many successful strategies employed at GALS LA: cellphone bans, morning movement and on-campus mental health providers.

GALS LA students have heavily benefitted from the school’s long-standing no-phone policy, established at the school’s 2016 founding. No phones are allowed on campus, during off-campus experiences or school bus rides. This frees students from online distractions and social pressures typically associated with social media platforms. Instead, students can use the time without cellphones to regulate their emotions, stay focused during classes and deepen face-to-face friendships.

Schools should also seriously consider the benefits of beginning each school day with movement. Physical activity releases the “feel-good” endorphin hormone, improves young people’s self-esteem and eases anxiety. Just 15 minutes of physical activity before the school day is proven to lead to youth’s increased academic performance and elevated class engagement. This school day restructure can lead to incredible mental and academic gains for students.

Additionally, GALS LA students heavily benefit from on-campus mental health providers. When these services are offered at a student’s place of learning, school leaders offer timely support, contribute to reduced barriers to care and promote early intervention. While these staffing needs often come at a high cost, schools should consider looking into established mental health certification programs through their respective state’s departments of health.

My school is deeply involved in California’s certified wellness coach (CWC) program, which supports the growing behavioral needs of youth. In tandem with our school’s holistic curriculum, which employs many behavioral wellness aspects, GALS LA has the highest percentage of CWC staff of any entity in the state of California. Nearly 60% of our school staff members are already certified, which pays incredible dividends to our students and supports the subsidization of school salaries.

As educators, psychologists and families work to mitigate the youth mental health crisis, many have taken the one-size-fits-all approach. I urge school leaders, legislators and families to consider a single-gender educational approach and the strategies our school has identified as successful alternatives to supporting our students’ mental health needs. At GALS LA, we see these approaches work one girl at a time.

Vanessa Garza is the executive director and founding principal at Girls Athletic Leadership School Los Angeles (GALS LA), the first and only free, public, all-girls charter school in the San Fernando Valley. As a graduate of an all-girls high school and champion of single-gender education, Garza brings nearly two decades of school administration to GALS LA, empowering students’ academic mastery and overall well-being through a holistic approach