Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day

Yesterday was Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day! Following are some statistics that highlight the need for providing behavioral health supports to children and adolescents through our communities and schools…Please take a moment today to read through these staggering statistics and at the same time celebrate the resilience of our youth who have overcome such adversity! Thanks also goes out to the many Community Providers/Programs that support our children and families daily!

·         Young children exposed to 5 or more significant adversities in the first 3 years of childhood face a 76 percent likelihood of having one or more delays in their cognitive, language, or emotional development.

·         Studies on the brain show that physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in childhood can cause permanent damage to the brain, reduce the size of parts of the brain, impact the way a child’s brain copes with daily stress, and can result in enduring problems such as depression, anxiety, aggression, impulsiveness, delinquency, hyperactivity, and substance abuse.

·         As the number of traumatic events experienced during childhood increases, the risk for the following problems in adulthood increases: depression; alcoholism; drug abuse; suicide attempts; heart and liver disease; pregnancy problems; high stress; uncontrollable anger; and family, financial, and job problems.

·         In 2009, researchers found that more than 60 percent of youth age 17 and younger have been exposed to crime, violence and abuse either directly or indirectly including witnessing a violent act, assault with a weapon, sexual victimization, child maltreatment and dating violence. Nearly 10 percent were injured during the exposure to violence, 10 percent were exposed to maltreatment by caretaker, and 6 percent were a victim of sexual assault.

·         When exposed to a traumatic event, children as young as 18 months can have serious emotional and behavioral problems later in childhood and in adulthood. More than 35 percent of children exposed to a single traumatic event will develop serious mental health problems.

With help from families, providers, and the community, children and adolescents can demonstrate resilience when dealing with trauma. Visit http://1.usa.gov/eURFX5 to learn more.

Thank you! M/J

Michele A. Carmichael

Principal Consultant

Schools and Mental Health Supports

Illinois State Board of Education

100 North First Street

Springfield, IL  62777-0001

Office: 217/782-5589

FAX: 217/782-0372

mcarmich@isbe.net