Statement of Problem

Surveys estimate that mental health conditions occur among at least 20 percent of children and adolescents, yet less than 30 percent of children with significant mental health needs receive services. Additionally, children from racial and ethnic minority groups are about half as likely to access outpatient mental health services than non-Hispanic white children. On average, there is a delay of 8-to 10-years between the first signs of symptoms and engagement in treatment; children experience worsening conditions during crucial, developing years. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, need for mental health services has increased among youth, and access challenges have worsened, particularly in high need/high demand areas. Access to mental health care is a particular challenge in Philadelphia with only 22 percent of adolescents with a mental health disorder between ages 13 and 18 receiving mental health services. 

With these statistics in mind, prevention and intervention efforts are extremely valuable for curbing this epidemic. For many youth, mental health problems first present in childhood and last into adulthood if left untreated; therefore, intervening when signs of risk first emerge as mild problems is much more likely to effectively mitigate their impact than responding to crises or treating severe issues. Nonetheless, although prevention efforts for children, who account for 25 percent of the U.S. population, can be much more cost-effective than interventions, only about 11 percent of national health spending is dedicated to children. Furthermore, the mental health services typically offered in primary care are inadequate even as the field shifts away from outpatient mental health clinics toward an integration into primary care practices. While this integration has been broadly identified as a valuable practice, there is still a severe shortage of mental health providers qualified to practice in primary care, particularly in high need/high demand areas.