News Mashup for October 2020
Annual Review of Mental Health in America
On October 20, 2020 Mental Health America released 2021 State of Mental Health in America, its annual report ranking the prevalence of mental health and substance use problems and access to care for both adults and youth across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Now in its seventh year of publication, the MHA’s State of Mental Health in America series aims to: “provide a snapshot of mental health status among youth and adults for policy and program planning, analysis, and evaluation; track changes in prevalence of mental health issues and access to mental health care; understand how changes in national data reflect the impact of legislation and policies; and increase dialogue and improve outcomes for individuals and families with mental health needs.”
State rankings, which range from 1 (lowest prevalence of mental illness and highest access to care) to 51 (highest prevalence and lowest access), are based on MHA’s analysis of 2017-2018 data from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Department of Education (DoE). At the national level, two key findings for youth age 12-17 years are:
Youth mental health is worsening in the U.S. with 9.7% of youth (~ 3.5 M) having severe major depression, up 0.5% since MHA’s 2020 analysis of 2016-2017 data. The highest incidence is among youth who identify as multi-racial, at 12.4%.
Access to care is a persistent problem in the U.S., with 60% of youth with a major depression episode lacking any specialty mental health treatment whatsoever.
While recognizing that relative rankings must be viewed with caution because of differences in geography and demographics from one state to the next, the study ranked California 33rd in the Nation for youth mental health, indicating a greater prevalence of illness and less access to care than that of some other large states with high-density urban centers such as Pennsylvania (2nd), New York (12th), and Texas (30th). Rankings for youth were based on diagnostic measures of past year (or severe) occurrences of a Major Depressive Episode (MDE), Substance Use Disorders, and Emotional Disturbance for an Individualized Education Program. The study found that overall, 66% of California’s young people experiencing MDE did not receive specialty mental health services in 2016-2017 (a total of 259,000 untreated youth). Click on the link below to learn more.
Reinert, M. Nguyen, T., and Fritze, D. (2020) The State of Mental Health in America 2021. Mental Health America, Alexandria VA. Retrieved on November 16, 2020 from https://www.mhanational.org/research-reports/2021-state-mental-health-america.
California Schools as Centers of Wellness
In October, the California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) submitted a draft report entitled Every Young Heart And Mind: Schools As Centers Of Wellness promoting community-based efforts to “elevate social-emotional learning as key to academic success.” In the report, the MHSOAC calls for a multi-year investment by the State to support sustainable, school-based mental health systems providing a continuum of services for K-12 students ranging from:
• Universal prevention services for all students to promote wellness and a healthy school climate; with
• Targeted services for some children at risk and/or showing signs and symptoms of developing mental health needs; and
• Intensive services for the few students with greater mental health needs.
Recognizing constraints on school budgets and the shortage of in-school counselors, psychologists, and social workers, the MHSOAC emphasizes the importance of integrating school districts and community-based mental health services. The report highlights examples of emerging school-community collaborations, but calls upon the State to establish a structural foundation for collaboration between agencies and service systems and to allocate multi-year funding for infrastructure, programming, and workforce development. Click on the link below to learn more.
California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (2020, October 8) Every Young Heart And Mind: Schools As Centers Of Wellness. [Draft Report] Sacramento, California. Retrieved November 8, 2020 from https://mhsoac.ca.gov/revised-draft-every-young-heart-and-mind-schools-centers-wellness.
