Summary: A report from the CDC identifies six steps we can take to protect youth and young adult mental health. When we take these steps early in the life of a child, they protect mental health throughout childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood.
The Steps:
- Strengthen Families
- Normalize Engaged and Involved Parenting
- Promote a Safe, Healthy, Early Childhood
- Teach Kids Stress Management and Interpersonal Relationship Skills
- Help Kids Find Helpful Adults
- Expand Access to Interventions and Crisis Support
For details from the CDC about implementing these steps, read the full article below.
Supporting Patients and Families from Childhood to Adulthood
At BACA, our primary mission is to protect youth mental health and young adult mental health by offering the highest quality evidence-based mental health care available.
Our programs for youth and young adults can help families and patients manage a wide range of mental health disorders, including:
For a comprehensive list of the disorders we treat, please visit this page:
We mention those disorders/behaviors specifically because they’re associated with negative events during childhood called adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). To read an in-depth analysis of ACEs, please navigate to our blog and read this article:
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Long-Term Mental Health
In a nutshell, ACEs are traumatic events that occur during the early years that result in unresolved, chronic, toxic stress. When chronic, toxic stress from childhood trauma goes unaddressed, unprocessed, and unresolved, it can have a negative impact on almost all areas of life. It affects relationships, mental health, self-esteem, educational achievement, work performance, lifelong earning potential, and long-term physical health.
However, it’s possible to help people resolve problems caused by unresolved trauma.
Treatment for Trauma-Related Disorders
Effective treatment for unresolved childhood trauma includes:
- Trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT)
- Family participation in treatment
- Medication
- Education
- Skills-based workshops
- Expressive therapies
Those therapies can be lifechanging for the people who commit to treatment. However, those therapies help after the adverse childhood experiences. In this article, we want to focus the preventive measures we can take to prevent adverse childhood experience and thereby protect youth and young adult mental health.
While the absence of adverse childhood experiences does not guarantee an absence of mental health or other challenges, it can significantly decrease the likelihood of negative physical and mental health outcomes during adulthood.
We’ll expand on that below.
First, we’ll share recommendations published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on how we can reduce and/or prevent adverse childhood experiences, and protect youth and young adult mental health.
Protecting Children and Youth from Adverse Experiences: Six Things We Can Do
These are the big-picture things that we can work toward as a society. Each of the following six steps implies actions people can take across all areas of life: this includes individuals, families, schools, healthcare providers, and any relevant public or private institutions.
One: Strengthen Financial Support For Families
- Increase tax credits for families with children
- Work policies that promote work/family balance
Two: Create And Promote Social Norms To Support Children
- Education about positive parenting, including practical, skills-based classes
- Legislative initiatives to promote parent engagement, in order to fund parent education
- Establish long-term programs that teach community members how to recognize and help at-risk kids
Three: Prioritize a Positive Early Childhood Experience
- Expand and increase home visits for at-risk families by social workers and child advocates
- Increase access to quality childcare
- Expand early education programs
Four: Improve Stress Management and Relationship Skills
- Expand social-emotional learning initiatives in schools
- Establish programs to teach safe dating
- Establish programs to promote healthy interpersonal relationships
- Create stress management/relationship management classes for parents
Five: Connect Youth to Helpful Adults
- Expand access to mentorship programs
- Increase after school programs
Six: Interventions To Prevent Acute Harm/Reduce Long-Term Harm
- Increase vigilance at Primary Care level
- Expand victim services
- Increase treatment access for adults with history of ACEs
- Increase treatment for teens and youth with ACEs
- Expand family centered AUD/SUD treatment
That’s how we create a better, healthier future for our children, adolescents, and young adults. We decide what we want to accomplish – protect youth and adult mental health – and formulate a plan to achieve our goals.
Here’s something important to know:
Everything on that list is within reach – if we commit and follow through. If we don’t, the mental health crisis among youth and young adults will continue until its no longer a crisis, but our default reality.
However, if we take these steps, here’s what can happen: we can reduce the negative outcomes associated with ACEs.
The CDC identifies the following quantifiable outcomes of preventing ACEs:
Potential Reductions in Prevalence of ACE-Related Problems
Diseases and disorders:
- Depressive disorders: 44% decrease
- COPD: 27% decrease
- Asthma: 24% decrease
- Kidney disease: 16% decrease
- Heart Disease: 13% decrease
- Cancer: 6% decrease
- Diabetes: 6% decrease
- Obesity/overweight: 6% decrease
Risky Behavior:
- Cigarette smoking: 33 decrease
- Heavy drinking: 24% decrease
Socioeconomic Difficulty
- Unemployment: 15% decrease
- Dropping out of high school: 5% decrease
- Lack of health insurance: 4% decrease
Those are outcomes we all want to see: reduced instance of mental health disorders, chronic disease, dangerous activity, and decreased problems associated with work, school, and finances during adulthood. We’ll reiterate the fact that all of these goals are attainable, and within reach. Working separately, we can improve the lives of our children and families. Working together, we can improve the lives of all children and families nationwide. In both cases, it starts the same way: we take one step, then another, until we achieve our long-term goal: protect youth and young adult mental health.
