Children’s mental health programs finally receive federal funding

Sadly, parents and children will be going through another pandemic school year. And the Biden administration understands how stressful this is for parents and children, and they want to help. The administration has therefore announced funding of nearly $ 85 million to help our children with mental health treatment, training and awareness programs. Here’s what parents need to know.

According to NPR, there has been a significant increase in the number of children seeking mental health support in emergency departments across the country. This has been a stressful year, and there has been so much change and loss for our children.

“Pediatricians and child and adolescent psychologists and psychiatrists have seen more children suffering from anxiety, depression, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts and attempts in the past year,” the publication reports . Indeed, rates of mentally challenged children during the pandemic have undoubtedly and reasonably skyrocketed.

The new investment will include $ 74.2 million in grants distributed by several organizations, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, to help raise awareness of mental health issues experienced by young people. It will also help fund training for school staff and programs to coordinate the treatment of troubled children and adolescents.

In addition, $ 10.7 million will be released with funds from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s US bailout for the Pediatric Mental Health Access Program. Her role will be to train primary care providers to treat and refer children with mental health issues.

“We know what’s coming,” said Xavier Becerra, secretary of health and human services, when announcing the funding at the New Orleans Children’s Hospital. “The wave of stress, mental tension, disorientation and dissociation that so many of our children feel today – they’re going to need help, and not just their parents and loved ones, they’re going to need some help. help from all of us.

And that is the goal of this new funding: to offer parents a way to get help for their children in difficulty. Somewhere it’s not the emergency room and hopefully be able to step in before emergency care is needed.

“It’s a great first start, from our perspective, and certainly an acknowledgment of the challenges and the issues,” said Amy Knight, President of the Children’s Hospital Association. NPR.

And it’s important to note that too. Mental health services are lacking across the country, especially for children, and the problem will not go away every time the pandemic does. But it is certainly a step in the right direction.