Take Action and Let Elected Leaders Know to Prioritize Children’s Behavioral Health!
New York State is facing a children’s behavioral health crisis. This crisis started before Covid but has continued to worsen in its wake. Here are some of the alarming facts about children’s behavioral health in our state:
- From 2016 to 2020, prior to Covid, the percentage of children who had anxiety or depression in New York grew by 22.5%, from 8.9% to 10.9%.
- Today, death by suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth age 15-19 in our state.
- The mental health of our young women, in particular, is worsening rapidly. Nationally, emergency department visits for suicide attempts during the pandemic were 51% greater than pre-pandemic for adolescent girls and 3.7% greater for boys.
Despite these numbers, half of New York youth with major depressive episodes in the past year did not receive treatment. Our state must address the reality facing so many families every day in our state:
Finding timely mental health supports for New York’s children and adolescents is overwhelming, isolating, exhausting, and often impossible.
In the final weeks of the State Legislative Session, we need your help to advocate for bills that are critical to support the mental health of young people and their families. Please Take Action below to send a letter to your elected leaders.
