Children's Mental Health

The National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health declares the first full week in May as National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. This week is dedicated to increasing public awareness about the triumphs and challenges in children’s mental health and emphasizing the importance of family and youth involvement in the children’s mental health movement!

The theme for 2010 National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week is: Promoting Positive Mental Health from Birth to Adulthood
The National Federation invites all our chapters and statewide organizations to use this week to promote positive mental health, well-being and social development for all children and youth. Join the National Federation in sending out the following messages:

1) Mental health is essential to overall health and well being.
2) Serious emotional and mental health disorders in children and youth are real and treatable.
3) Children and youth with mental health challenges and their families deserve access to services and supports that are family driven, youth guided and culturally appropriate.
4) Values of acceptance, dignity and social inclusion should be promoted throughout all communities for children, youth and families.
5) Family and youth voice is a valued asset in determining appropriate services and interventions.

The National Federation will again sell and distribute green ribbons in preparation for Children’s Mental Health Awareness week. Let us work together to exceed last year’s total of 150,000 green ribbons worn during Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Please plan your mental health awareness activities and share your ideas with all of us...send them to kbennett@ffcmh.org!

Go to the website HERE

Download the flier HERE


The Surgeon General reports that 1 in 5 kids has a mental health problem. Virginia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services estimates that between 92,000 and 111,000 Virginia children and adolescents have a serious emotional disturbance. Only one in five, however, receives needed treatment. Numerous studies and task forces have documented inadequacies in the child mental health service system in Virginia. Many children go unserved because the system is fragmented and uncoordinated, service availability and quality vary tremendously from locality to locality, community-based services are particularly lacking, and there is a severe shortage of professionals trained to treat child and adolescent disorders. At the state level, responsibility for the public child mental health system is split among three secretariats and four agencies, with no centralized authority or leadership to consolidate funding or create an accessible system. At the local level, service availability, eligibility criteria and admission processes vary greatly across localities, leaving many families confused and without access. Many children endure long waits before accessing services; a 2008 Inspector General’s report found that the average wait at community services boards to see a child psychiatrist, for example, was 31 days.

Voices for Virginia's Children is leading The Campaign for Children’s Mental Health to transform Virginia’s child mental health system so that more children are able to obtain needed services. Children who receive services as soon as they begin to show symptoms are less likely to escalate to the point of crisis, which reduces the need for more expensive and restrictive treatments. Through a three-year, vigorous advocacy campaign, timed to coincide with a new administration, Voices will work closely with its partners to create the policy climate and public will that can motivate state lawmakers and mental health officials to address the system’s shortcomings.


Go to the website HERE

Download the flier HERE