Early intervention has been found to be effective in reducing symptoms before some mental health conditions become too severe. During childhood years, the brain is still at its most malleable, so earlier treatment may help academic, social, and emotional development throughout a child’s life. But getting treatment can be difficult—nationally, the average is one child psychiatrist for every 1800 youths under the age of 18 who need these services. The following organizations help fill in the gaps through advocacy, links to low-cost services as well as providing free resources in the meantime. Here are some of the best ones we found:
7 Organizations Tackling The Youth Mental Health Crisis
While some of the statistics around the youth mental health crisis may be daunting, these organizations—and many more—are devoted to eradicating stigma, providing outreach, and ensuring that youth can access the mental health services they need.
On Our Sleeves
On Our Sleeves is an organization whose mission is to break down any stigma around mental health issues in children. Their main avenue for doing this is providing free evidence-based guides to educate families and advocates on topics ranging from helping boost your child’s confidence to teaching them how to be there when they have a friend in need. The name “On Our Sleeves” comes from the idea of wearing one’s heart on their sleeves—and uses graphics and illustrations to show what it would look like if a child could wear their thoughts on their sleeves.
The Trevor Project
According to a survey, 45% of LGBTQ youth considered attempting suicide last year—and 60% of LGBTQ youth who wanted mental health care in the past year were unable to access it. The Trevor Project is a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning LBGTQ people. Their services include a crisis line (which received 200,000+ calls/chats/texts in 2021) and a social media space called TrevorSpace. It is estimated that of the 2.5 million students in the New York State public education system, nearly 500,000 students are in schools with no suicide prevention policy at all. And more than 2 million youths are in schools that have no policies that address and identify the LGBTQ populations, as only 2% of the schools have policies specific to this population.
Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress
The Center for Pediatric Traumatic Stress (CPTS) at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) treats children who have encountered trauma or stress due to medical care. These traumas may be in reaction to pain, injury, serious illness, medical procedures, or invasive or frightening medical treatments. Some of the symptoms may include arousal, re-experiencing, or avoidance—similar to more traditional post-traumatic stress disorder. Pediatric medical trauma symptoms may cause ongoing trouble for approximately 20% of children with injuries. Although CHOP is local to Philadelphia and its surrounding areas, the hospital—and this particular center—have a nationwide impact with their work. The CPTS develops assessments and interventions for healthcare providers working with children that are deployed nationally. The center also trains other health care providers on how to work with pediatric medical traumatic stress through their resources.
The Steve Fund
The Steve Fund is an organization that focuses on supporting mental health of young people of color. It works to advocate for colleges and universities to implement mental health programs, promotes greater knowledge and use of campus mental health services and increases the proficiency of families and mental health organizations working with this demographic.
Universal: This level is based on an understanding that medical events are distressing on some level to most families. Treatment on this level includes providing general support for social and emotional functioning and discussing pre-existing coping skills. Targeted: Children and/or families who have acute stress reactions or risk factors such as prior trauma or experience of loss may need increased support and monitoring of their ongoing stress. Clinical: When families or children reach a level of distress that affects their ability to make decisions or stay the course with treatment, treatment by a mental health professional is recommended as well as the family seeking out greater psychosocial support in their own community.
We R Native
We R Native is an organization that is “for native youth, by native youth.” They provide information for Native youth to live healthy and positive lives and feel less alone, from mental health information to cultural information about Native Americans so that they can connect with their heritage.
Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation works to create a better future for children by working to break down barriers in educational, economic, social and health systems. Through research, grant-making and lobbying, they help communities find successful strategies to improve the lives of children and their families. Through their Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, the foundation worked with Barenalillo County, New Mexico, to address the mental health challenges of court-involved youth by establishing a community mental health clinic that specializes in working with this population. Other successful outcomes include reducing the lengths of stay in detention as well as reducing recidivism.
Child Mind Institute
The Child Mind Institute works to deliver educational resources to children and families dealing with mental health and learning conditions. Some of these resources may include training educators in underserved communities or the research their scientists are doing to develop new and innovative treatments. They are also committed to working collaboratively with the larger scientific community by making much of their data publicly available and able to be used open-source. As a part of this program, the Healthy Brain Network provides children with a no-cost mental health evaluation and a feedback session with a clinician following their evaluation. The goal of this project is to identify biological markers of psychiatric conditions.
