Underserved Barriers

“Nearly 5 million children in the U.S. have some type of mental illness” (Goldberg). It is agreeable that there are many young children that deal with mental illness every day. Schools should be concerned for every student’s well being. Moreover, mental health is a part of a person’s overall “well being.” Therefore, schools need to make the mental health of students a stronger focus and implement plans to keep students mentally well and educated. To help create a positive, mental health aware environment where students feel open to seek help, high school students should be educated on how to be mentally healthy, be given a safe place to seek help, and be encouraged to monitor and maintain their mental health. Mental illness and mental health care need to be a more eminent priority in our society, starting with high schools.

Teachers and staff will be trained to tell the if a student is experiencing symptoms of any type of mental health disorder. For example, if a student is having irregular mood swings or a fluctuation in weight, which are common symptoms of anxiety and depression. In the article, “Why Schools Should Screen Their Students' Mental Health”, it says,“If we made mental health part of the usual health system of a school, then it becomes more normal…”. If a student sees a positive outlook on mental health they would be opened to getting help. On some media platforms, mental health is portrayed as something to be ashamed of or a evil quality to posses. Mental health isn’t evil, it’s how the person deals with it that's important. Yes, if not treated it can cause negative effects but with the help from the community these children can live relatively normal lives. Children and adults struggle to comprehend the severity of mental illness, which causes them to avoid any form of treatment. In the future, mental health should become a thing not to be ashamed of. A person who broke a bone would go to the hospital right away, not wait for it to heal on its own. If you wouldn’t wait for a physical injury, why would you wait for

It is estimated that one in every five youth experience mental illnesses that interfere with their everyday routines (“NAMI”). Mental health in the United States is a growing epidemic that needs to be solved. Youth with mental illnesses may never know that they have one; screenings for mental health are not something a lot of people take advantage of. Schools are a place where youth develop the most. In order for this to happen, society needs to make schools feel welcoming and provide support for those who need help. While some people do not believe mental illnesses exist, schools should require mental health screenings in order to prevent future violent situations, educate their staff, and do more to make students feel comfortable.

One of the biggest criticisms that Managed Mental health has received is that because of the way the managed care system works in regards to reducing cost utilization, then Managed mental health care could limit access (Boyle & Callahan.1995). However, in reality, there is a belief and some empirical evidence that Medicaid managed behavioral health care for children enhances access to care and that patients are more likely to obtain services in a timely and appropriate manner than under financially restrictive, traditional fee-for-service care (Boyle & Callahan, 1995). Regardless of this, the Surgeon General 's 1999 comprehensive report on mental health noted the seriousness of the problem and estimated that 70% of children needing mental health services do not receive those (Mennen & Trickett, 2007). Therefore, focusing on

Mental illnesses are very common in the United States, with one in five of adolescents having a diagnosed mental illness and in the last year less than half of these adolescents have received proper treatment. The most common mental disorders, anxiety and depression, can disrupt daily life and result in suicide, which is the third most frequent cause of death in teenagers (“The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). Ten percent of adolescents did not have health insurance in 2013 and those who did, had a very limited amount of mental health care services provided to them (“The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). It has been proved that it is even less likely that adolescents who are poor, homeless, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender will receive the care that is necessary for their health and even life (“The Office of Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services”). Mental disorders are not only an

The authors of this paper begin by describing that although there is a high occurrence of children and adolescents with mental health disorders, Canada lacks certain policies and services in order to support mental health care. The authors examined the accessibility, substance and status of mental health care services and systems for youth in all provinces and territories of Canada. If policies did exist, they were assessed using the WHO (World Health Organization) framework. The results of this paper explain that only four provinces contain child and adolescent mental health policies and plans, however the policies and plans that do occur are lacking vital components. The authors continue by recommending better development of Canadian mental

Though there are many treatments that are effective in helping children live and thrive with these issues, they are not always available to them. Unfortunately, children and teens throughout the United States are having difficulties accessing mental health care services. According to a survey conducted by University of Michigan, 30% of survey participants reported having lots of availability for children’s health care (Masson, 2013). Having poor access to such services can leave a negative impact on a child’s health and they can potentially carry these issues with them into their futures when left untreated. The topic of mental health is especially impactful for children on welfare as they are at a high risk for developing a mental illness since many children have experienced traumatic situations such as abuse or neglect (Levitt, 2009). Even though CHIP covers mental health services, the barrier to accessing these services still exists.

There are several key interventions proposed here that we recommend focusing on in the coming years. The first is to increase access for all youth to mental health services. This includes increasing services offered and also includes increasing incentives from private insurance to reimburse appropriate mental health services, thus increasing the number of people who are able to use those services. The second is to better integrate pediatricians’ offices in order to strengthen our state’s framework for providing mental health and to provide earlier diagnosis.

Schools have emerged as key settings for the provision of mental health interventions where a full range of services including prevention and treatment of mental problems. School setting is required the

Access to mental health care is not as good as than other forms of medical services. Some Americans have reduced access to mental health care amenities because they are living in a countryside setting. Others cannot get to treatment for the reason of shortage of transportation or vast work and household tasks. In some areas, when a

At an early age, children experience stress that may stem from a number of different sources. Some of the experiences that may put a child at risk and under stress include poverty, abuse, or mental health issues found at home or within themselves (Greenberg, Domitrovich, & Bumbarger, 2001). It is estimated that up to 20% of children in the United States experience a mental health disorder in a given year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Many children who need mental health services are not getting the care that they need (Kerr & Nelson, 2002). Mental health services are sometimes unknown to parents, teachers, and other caregivers. Having these services integrated into the

Before the age of eighteen nearly a fourth of all young persons will deal with mental illness (Shirk and Jungbluth 217). Only around a third of these children will receive professional treatment (United States Public Health Service qtd. in Shirk and Jungbluth 222). Because of the risk of suicide in mentally ill young people, it is crucial that mental health services are readily available to our youth in school settings. Therefore, schools should administer mandatory mental health screenings because mental illness often affects academic performance, and the majority of young persons that commit suicide have a treatable illness.

About 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 experiences a severe mental disorder at least once in their lifetime. Over one-third of students with a mental health condition, age 14­–21 drops out—the highest dropout rate of any disability group. With these statistics, it shows how many people are not gaining support and are just giving up because they cannot find convenient help. If this issue is shown in the classroom, then the awareness rates will rise, making more establishments for support and treatment.

Pre-adolescence is a crucial stage in a child’s life because it is during this stage that kids can learn the coping mechanism that can prevent complications later on in life (Britton et al., 2014). Some children and adolescents may not have the opportunity to seek proper mental health care during their childhood. This may be due to parents overworking or simply not being able to afford quality mental health care services (Bucci et al., 2016). However, schools can serve children and adolescents as a

The mental health of adolescents is fairly considered to be one of the major prerequisites of the country 's sustainable development in economics, culture, and social life. Subsequently, the easy and nondiscriminatory access to the psychological treatment appears to be a matter of top priority for the federal government. Nevertheless, the recent statistical data indicates the substantial problems in terms of providing the adolescents with the necessary medical support. In accordance with the US Department of Health & Human Services, in 2014, less than 50% of the country 's adolescent population were provided with a required treatment (US Department of Health & Human Services). Moreover, the data on the minorities ' access to the mental health treatment demonstrates that, for instance, African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be prescribed a treatment from schizophrenia (American Psychological Association). Undoubtedly, such a trend may be primarily explained by the insufficient efforts of both federal and local health care institutions in terms of providing the minorities ' representatives with the necessary psychological treatment. Consequently, in order to understand comprehensively the problem of the adolescent mental health in the US, it is necessary to define the issue-related objective and subjective concerns as well as to analyze the peculiarities of a potential corrective to the