By Tim Mastro

Several Delaware medical organizations are sounding the alarm on a mental health crisis in children.

Representatives from the Medical Society of Delaware, National Alliance on Mental Illness in Delaware, Nemours Children Health, The Life Health Center and Campaign for Kids have come together to promote mental health awareness in school-age children.

The partnership is centered on a new campaign “Sound the Alarm for Kids” — created to promote the health and wellbeing of our Delaware youth and respond to what mental health experts are calling a national emergency as the mental health crisis continues to rise. It is part of a national campaign between the Children’s Hospital Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists which represents more than 200 children’s hospitals and 77,000 physicians.

One in five children nationwide experience a mental health condition in a given year, according to recent statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The American Psychiatric Association has found 53% of adults with children in their household say they are concerned about the mental state of their children.

CDC also found a 60% increase in the rate of suicide among 10-24-year-olds from 2007 to 2018. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for this age group, per CDC.

“We are facing a significant national mental health crisis in our children and teens which requires urgent action,” said Amy Wimpey Knight, president of CHA.

The situation is worse among minorities. An emergency taskforce on Black youth suicide and mental health found Black children under age 13 are twice as likely to die by suicide than their white peers and the rate of death by suicide among Black youth has increased faster than any other racial or ethnic group.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the mental health crisis as mental-health-related emergency department visits increased from 2019 to 2020 by 25% among 5-11-year-olds and by 31% among 12-17-year-olds. There was also a 14% increase in mental health emergencies for 5-17-year-olds seen at children’s hospitals in the first two quarters of 2021 compared to the same time period in 2019.

“We were concerned about children’s emotional and behavioral health even before the pandemic,” said Dr. Gabrielle A. Carlson, president of AACAP. “The ongoing public health emergency has made a bad situation worse. We are caring for young people with soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, and suicidality that will have lasting impacts on them, their families, their communities, and all our futures.”

Delaware has a 24-hour Child Priority Response Hotline: 1-800-969-HELP (4357) and a Crisis Text Line, which can be reached by texting “DE” to 741741 for children in crisis. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is also available at (800) 273-TALK (8255). Delaware’s Hope Line is (833) 9-HOPEDE while the statewide number for the Mental Health Association in Delaware is 302-654-6833.

More information, resources and an advocacy toolkit is available here.