Responding to Children's Mental Health Needs to Start Sooner
/The average delay between when mental health symptoms first appear and when medical intervention is introduced is 8-10 years, according to Kate Mattias, MPH, JD, Executive Director of the Connecticut chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
That lengthy time period has changed for more than a decade, despite stark statistics that underscore the need: 13% of children ages 8-15 experience a mental health condition; approximately 50% of chronic mental health conditions begin by age 14 and 75% begin by age 24.
“We’re still identifying issues too late; we need to provide help and support to people when they are as young as possible. It can change the trajectory of their lives,” explains Mattias.
“Like many health conditions, the earlier someone with a mental health condition gets care the better. If we can identify kids who might be having emotional or behavioral challenges we can provide the age-appropriate intervention that can lead to better and faster outcomes for the child,” Mattias continued. “Early identification and intervention is good for parents and caregivers too; it provides hope.”
To further education and encourage action at a younger age, NAMI is aiming programming directly at students. Ending the Silence is a 60-minute program for school-age children (5th grade through high school) and school professionals.
Officials point out that the program components are presented by a parent and a young adult:
For students, the main focus is on warning signs and how to get help for a friend or oneself. There is a strong suicide prevention message and an anti-bullying message as well as promotion of early access to care.
For professionals the program introduces them to warning signs, provides facts and statistics on mental health conditions among children and youth, and provides ways in which to approach families and students to work with them. A family-focused Ending the Silence is currently being developed.
NAMI Connecticut plays an active role providing support, education, and advocacy at the community level. The organizations operates support groups “to let people know they are not alone and to be there with information and support when needed.”
This week, Middletown-based Conversations on Health Care, produced by Community Health Center, features an interview with Dr. Ken Duckworth, Medical Director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The conversation highlights causes behind the growing problem of anxiety, depression, suicide and opioid use disorder, and viable solutions needed to address the gap in access to mental health care through more accessible depression screening, expanded telehealth and better training of primary care clinicians to meet the need.
