"Our children are in crisis.
Thus, our village is in crisis."
That's what the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Association, and American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry have to say about the growing crisis in children's mental health, which they've declared an emergency, USA Today reports.
According to the CDC, mental health-related emergency department visits increased 24% for children ages 5 to 11 and 17% for adolescents ages 12 to 17 in 2020 compared to the same months of 2019.
In 2021, the CDC found that four in 10 teens reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, while one in five reported contemplating suicide.
"The severity and pervasiveness of this crisis in children led the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Association, and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry to declare an emergency in child and adolescent mental health," the groups say in a statement.
"Children's hospitals across the country are often the last resort for families," the statement continues.
"While emergency rooms can be critical access points in a health crisisphysical or mentalthe steady rise in visits over the past decades and the sharp rise over the past five years are symptoms of a pediatric mental health system that is overwhelmed and under resourced."
The groups
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Caroline Diehl is a serial social entrepreneur in the impact media space. She is Executive Chair and Founder of the UK’s only charitable and co-operatively owned national broadcast television channel Together TV, the leading broadcaster for social change runs a national TV channel in the UK and digital platform which helps people find inspiration to do good in their lives and communities.