Hi, I'm Lauren Caldwell.
Director of the Children, Youth and Families Office here at the American Psychological
Association and I am happy to welcome Dr. Arthur Evans to speak with me about Mental
Health Awareness Month and National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Glad to be here.
Great!
So, May is Mental Health Awareness Month and I just wanted to ask you - why is it important
to have a recognition month focused on mental health awareness?
Well, mental health issues affect many people.
They have a big impact on our lives and the reality is that most people who have mental
health challenges won't seek out help.
And so we think it is important to raise the issue, make sure that people understand its
importance in our lives and to make sure that people understand how to get help if they
need it.
Sure.
So, how widespread are mental health concerns?
Well, one in four adults will have a mental health challenge.
One in five children will have a mental health challenge.
And over our lifetimes, half of Americans will have a mental health challenge.
So, it's more widespread than people might be aware.
I think it's more widespread than most people recognize and the thing is we don't have the
type of stigma associated with our physical health.
If someone has a cold or a physical health condition, there's not a stigma associated
with going to seek out help.
But there is if someone is depressed or VERY anxious or even if they have PTSD.
And one of the things we think is very important is for us to break down that stigma and to
really help people to understand that this is just a part of life and that there is help
and there are very effective treatments out there.
Are there particular groups who are more at risk for mental health difficulties?
Well, you know, if you look at serious mental illnesses, the prevalences are about the same
across populations and across the world.
However, if you look at less severe mental illnesses, there are lots of variations and
that is really affected by social determinants like socioeconomic status.
It's affected by the level of stress that a community might experience.
It's affected by a number of different things that can impact on people's mental wellbeing.
And so, one of the things that we think is important is to make sure that we have strategies
that are varied so we can reach those various communities.
So, May 4 is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.
Why the specific focus on children?
Well, children—first of all, children are important.
But also, one of the things we know is that what happens in early childhood can have a
significant impact and influence on what happens to us in adulthood.
There's a study called the "Adverse Childhood Experiences" study that shows that negative
things that happen, whether it's a divorce or those kinds of things, when you look at
the number of events that happen in early childhood, they are directly related to negative
outcomes in our health status, our mental health status, our physical health status.
So, we know through a lot of research that when we intervene early we can really change
the trajectory in children's lives and adults lives and really improve our health outcomes
and our social outcomes.
And our work with various communities has demonstrated that parents aren't always aware
of this information, neither are teachers.
And, it's helpful to shine a light on what happens early makes a difference and adverse
experiences can impact children as they're growing up.
So, the awareness piece makes sense.
Yeah, absolutely.
One of the big challenges is that most people that have mental health challenges don't seek
out care.
So to the extent that we can help people recognize that these are real issues and that there
is effective help, we think more people will access the help that they need.
So, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has designated as
their theme for National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day this year, "Partnering
for Help and Hope."
And that really focuses on integrated care.
Can you say more about what integrated care is?
So, what integrated care really means is that mental health services are integrated with
physical health services, for example, in primary care settings or community health
centers.
And the whole idea is that because these services have historically been separated and delivered
separately, that there's a recognition that if we can provide them in the same location
with providers who are working together that we can much more effectively treat the whole
person.
But it's also a way of reducing the stigma associated with mental health services.
We know that many people are more likely to access mental health services if they're provided
in that general healthcare setting as opposed to a specialty healthcare setting that is
separate from the general healthcare system.
So, we think it's important in terms of providing better care but also in improving access particularly
for groups that have not historically accessed mental health services.
And we see that having integrated care in settings like school-based health centers
and other community-based organizations really helps provide access for children who might
otherwise have difficulty getting care.
And especially, sometimes, for teens who might need to seek services and may like the confidentiality
that might come from services in a school-based setting that they might not be able to access
that type of care otherwise.
Yeah, that's a great point.
And I think that another important group are immigrant groups who often in their countries
of origin don't have a language for mental health services.
The Cambodian community, for example, doesn't have a word for "mental health."
And so, when we're working with immigrant communities, it's really important to provide
services in those integrated care settings because that is where people are going to
access their health services and it then provides an opportunity to address the mental health
needs as well.
So, there's a strong message around integrated care to be shared.
Absolutely, it's very important.
And, APA is doing a number of activities around Mental Health Awareness Month and National
Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, as you know.
Yes.
We've had a discussion on vulnerable boys and men of color talking about specific mental
health needs there.
We also have a 125th anniversary discussion focused on bullying coming up, a number of
different webinars, a podcast focusing on children and stress, a number of other social
media activities.
For a full list of activities at APA, you can go to our website at www.apa.org and click
on the "News" section to find the full list of events.
So, I want to thank you for talking with me today about Mental Health Awareness Month
and National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.
Thank you, it's been a pleasure.
Thank you.