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The Need for Children's Mental Health Services

Imagine you are in a classroom with 25 nine year olds and the teacher is handing out a worksheet. One student, Tony, stands up, tears up the worksheet, tips over his chair, swears at the teacher and storms out of the room. Now imagine that you are Tony. Try to imagine what this feels like from the inside. You are being given one more thing to do at school that you know you cannot do. You feel stupid. You’re sick of being teased and bullied. You feel frustrated. You hate school. You hate your teacher for making you feel this way. You hate yourself. Now, imagine you are Tony’s mother. You get another call from the school. You are told Tony erupted in class again today. You are told Tony has been suspended for the day and you need to come and get him—again. You are angry this has happened again. You feel helpless. You are worried about losing your job because of frequent absences. You do not understand what is wrong with Tony. You are overwhelmed with fear, frustration and hopelessness. You don’t know where to turn or what might make your life better.

This is one story about a child living with serious emotional and behavioral problems in Minnesota. Unfortunately, Tony is not alone—over 70,000 children in Minnesota experience similar problems. When a child struggles with mental health issues it affects every area of their life. Family stress and conflict increases. Children struggle in school. The harm to the child and their family and the impact on communities can be enormous. These difficulties affect families from all income levels, cultural backgrounds and geographic areas.

Children with emotional and behavioral difficulties often struggle in school. Truancy, suspensions and drop out rates are high. When kids drop out of school, more serious problems tend to follow. 73% of students with behavior disorders who drop out of school are arrested within 5 years of leaving school. Each year roughly 4,000 Minnesota children in Kindergarten, first and second grades were suspended for behavior problems, including threats and acts of violence against peers and staff.

Early disruptive behavior and school problems lead to peer rejection and are highly predictive of more serious problems later in childhood and life. As Raver (2002) notes, “young children who are rejected by their classmates in their first years of schooling are at grave risk for lower academic achievement, greater likelihood of grade retention (being ‘held back’), greater likelihood of dropping out of school, and greater risk of delinquency and of committing criminal juvenile offenses in adolescence.”

Even more disturbing, suicide is a leading cause of death among Minnesota children. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for 15- to 34-year-olds and the third leading cause of death for 10- to 14-year-olds in Minnesota.

It is well established that effective, comprehensive early interventions can have a dramatic impact on children’s ability to be successful. As the 2002 Social Policy Report from the Society for Research in Child Development states, “while young children’s emotional and behavioral problems are costly to their chances of school success, these problems are identifiable early, are amenable to change, and can be reduced over time…intensive programs (that include both parent and teacher training) demonstrate remarkable effectiveness in reducing children’s emotional and behavioral problems.”

Treatment for emotional and behavioral difficulties works, but it is not widely available and most children never receive help. Even though there are proven, evidence-based treatments for the most common childhood disorders (depression, anxiety and attention disorders), fewer than 20% of children who need treatment will get it. Nationally, 1 out of every 5 children and adolescents experience the signs and symptoms of a mental health disorder, but only 1 in 5 of those children will get the help they need.

For more information about Children’s Mental Health and Child Development go to Related Links.