May is Mental Health Month

Some sad statistics on mental health and its impact on kids*:

• 20% of youth ages 13-18 live with a mental health condition.
• Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age 24. Despite effective treatment, there are long delays—sometimes decades—between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.
• Over one-third (37%) of students with a mental health condition age 14­–21 and older who are served by special education drop out—the highest dropout rate of any disability group.
• Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. the 3rd leading cause of death for people aged 10–24 and the 2nd leading cause of death for people aged 15–24.
• More than 90% of children who die by suicide have a mental health condition.
• 70% of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition and at least 20% live with a serious mental illness.

May is Mental Health Month. We need to raise awareness and eliminate the stigma so we can improve the lives of all Americans whose lives are affected by mental health conditions.

Learn more here.

*Statistics from NAMI