DELAND, Fla. — More than four years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts say people are still struggling with mental health issues that were either brought on by the pandemic, or made worse by it.

What You Need To Know

  • Data from a KFF/CNN survey shows 90% of U.S. adults believe the country is currently facing a mental health crisis

  • Experts say many people are struggling with mental health issues that were either brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, of made worse by it

  • Rico Sharp, a pastor and motivational speaker, says his own losses — and lingering personal struggles from the pandemic — have inspired him to help others who may be facing their own challenges

Data from a KFF/CNN survey shows 90% of U.S. adults believe the country is now facing a mental health crisis.

A Central Florida pastor and motivational speakers say his own loss and lingering personal struggles from the pandemic have inspired him to help others who may be facing their own challenges. 

“Life will knock you flat down on your back, but if life knocks you down on your back — if you can look up, you can get up,” Rico Sharp said to a group of students at Florida Technical College recently. 

“To help them understand very enthusiastically and passionately, just how vitally important every moment is — that’s the thing that matters the most to me,” said Sharp.

But the pandemic took a toll on Sharp and his family.

Sharp's father died after catching COVID-19 in 2022 — and after that, he said the losses kept coming. 

Sharp said COVID claimed several people close to him, and since then, other circumstances have led to the deaths of more than a dozen members of his family. Sharp said the grief was so overwhelming that he stopped working.

“I felt that the load was too heavy for me to bear, and I was looking for a way out, and so yeah I did quit," Sharp said. "I did give up."

Sharp said the losses came too often to give his family a chance to recover.

“It ripped us into shreds, and although it’s been four years ago, my family still hasn’t fully recuperated,” he said. “We’re still all dazed, we’re still stunned and waiting to wake up from a nightmare.”

Then a year ago, after a series of injuries and illnesses, Sharp’s brother died in his sleep — but before he did, he passed along a poignant message.

“He said to me, basically, 'Don’t let life kill you, don’t let life get the best of you,'” Sharp said. “He’s someone who life beat up brutally, to the point that he died of a broken heart.”

Sharp said after that, he became determined to prevent others from suffering the same fate.

“When he died and the conversation we had, it gave me the replenishing of strength and the replenishing of passion to get back out there, and to not give up on the world, but to use what happened to him as my motivation to inspire others to win at life,” said Sharp.

When he speaks, Sharp said he shares lessons he’s learned from his tumultuous teenage years — that in his case led to homelessness and even prison time. And he said his mission to motivate others is more urgent now than ever before.

“As long as you’re opening your eyes in the morning, as long as you’re breathing, you have the opportunity to make things better for your life,” Sharp told the students at Florida Technical College.