Children’s mental health is crucial for their overall well-being. A child’s mental health situation can influence how they deal with stress, form relationships, and operate at school and in their broader community. Despite the numerous connections between mental and physical health, many families are unable to access timely, effective, and culturally responsive mental health care.
In addition, although rates of mental health challenges were increasing before the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened stress, grief, social isolation, and economic insecurity throughout the pandemic have worsened these challenges. According to the US National Survey of Children’s Health, children from birth to age 17 years experienced significant increases in diagnosed anxiety and depression as well as decreases in physical activity. Children were also affected by decreases in parent and caregiver mental and emotional well-being. To help counteract these challenges, agencies and organizations can choose from many policy options to equitably promote children’s mental health.
In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ChangeLab Solutions has developed resources to highlight evidence-based policies for improving children’s mental health. These resources offer strategies to increase workforce, income, school, and housing supports that have been shown to improve children’s overall mental health and well-being.
