TrueCare Special Event to Address the Youth Behavioral Health Crisis and Introduce New Programs to the Community on Wednesday, October 19 at 8:00 a.m.

Dr. Benjamin Maxwell, Rady's Children’s Hospital To Keynote the Event

The focus of this special community event, held on the heels of October 10 World Mental Health Day, will be a discussion about the crisis and presentations of the services and programs TrueCare and its community partners are initiating to address this critical area of need for our young adults, especially in underserved communities with limited access to behavioral health services. 

WHAT:  TrueCare, a regional community health center, is bringing the North County community together to address the behavioral health crisis in today’s youth.
WHEN: Wednesday, October 19 at 8:00 a.m.
WHERE: El Corazon Event Center, 3302 Senior Center Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056

Dr. Benjamin Maxwell, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, will keynote the event and provide an overview of the state of youth behavioral health.

WHY:  Young adults in California experience mental health challenges at alarming rates, with more than 75% reporting anxiety in the last year, more than 50% reporting depression, 31% experiencing suicidal thinking and 16% self-harm, according to the results of a survey commissioned by the California Endowment.  Nationwide, more than 1 in 3 high school students experienced poor mental health during the pandemic and nearly half of students felt persistently sad or hopeless, according to the CDC.

The situation is critical and broad enough to attract national attention, with the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issuing an advisory on America’s “Youth Mental Health Crisis” in December 2021. In August, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $4.7 billion “master plan” for children’s mental health.

KEY TOPICS:

• Overview and state of youth mental health in the country and San Diego County by Dr. Maxwell of Rady's Children's Health.
• Behavioral health needs of patients seen by pediatricians at TrueCare
• Trends in pediatric providers engaging in behavioral health due to capacity issues in the healthcare system
• Announcing new youth-focused services and programs born out of pure need and collaborations with partners to implement in schools.
• Unveiling of the new TrueCare program, Puzzling Minds, and ongoing expansion of the Youth Advocacy Program, which provides support for overcoming substance and alcohol use disorders.
• Reaching youth in an environment where they feel comfortable and safe, and engaging parents/teachers in the process.
• A call to action to the community to address this complex and challenging issue together to help children who are suffering and improve their lives.
• Additional youth mental health stats available below.

MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES:

• 1:1 interviews with onsite representatives underscoring the importance of mental health and community engagement to address the crisis.
• B-roll and photo opportunities

EVENT SPEAKERS:

• Dr. Benjamin Maxwell - Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego director of child and adolescent psychiatry
• Michelle D. Gonzalez - TrueCare CEO & President
• Russ Riehl - TrueCare Board Chair
• Dr. Michael Krapes - TrueCare PsyD, Youth Behavioral Health at TrueCare Mission Mesa Pediatrics
• Isaias Sanchez - Outreach Director for Puzzling Minds 
• Jacqueline Martinez -Community School Coordinator, Oceanside Unified School District 
• Alejandra Perez -Community Engagement Specialist, TrueCare’s Youth Substance Abuse Disorder program

Elected officials, TrueCare’s community partners and community members are also joining this important and informational special event focused on the youth behavioral health crisis that our families and individuals currently face.

The event is free to all and will feature information about behavioral health resources.

Additional information can be found here.

About TrueCare
For 50 years, TrueCare has not wavered in its commitment to patients, their families, and its communities. As a non-profit community health center, TrueCare is dedicated to delivering a superior and compassionate healthcare experience to nearly 60,000 patients every year, reducing barriers and increasing accessibility to quality care. TrueCare cares for the diverse communities of North San Diego and South Riverside Counties with services ranging from primary care, pediatrics, women’s health, behavioral health, chiropractic treatments and dentistry. In addition, TrueCare offers transportation services, community health outreach, insurance enrollment assistance and case management programs. For more information, click here.

YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH STATISTICS:

CDC

According to CDC statistics released April 2022:

• More than 1 in 3 high school students experienced poor mental health during the pandemic.
• Nearly half of students felt persistently sad or hopeless.
• A quarter of teens struggle with hunger.
• Two-thirds said they had difficulty with schoolwork.
• More than half of students experienced emotional abuse in their home.

 WHO 

• Globally, one in seven 10-19-year-olds experiences a mental disorder, accounting for 13% of the global burden of disease in this age group.
• Depression, anxiety and behavioral disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents.
• Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15-29 year-olds.
• The consequences of failing to address adolescent mental health conditions extend to adulthood, impairing both physical and mental health and limiting opportunities to lead fulfilling lives as adults.

MHA National:

• A growing percentage of youth in the U.S. live with major depression. 15.08% of youth experienced a major depressive episode in the past year, a 1.24% increase from last year’s dataset. In the bottom-ranked states, up to 19% of youth ages 12-17 experienced major depression.
• Over 2.5 million youth in the U.S. have severe depression, and multiracial youth are at greatest risk. 10.6% of youth in the U.S. have severe major depression (depression that severely affects functioning). The rate of severe depression was highest among youth who identified as more than one race, at 14.5% (more than one in every seven multiracial youth).
• Over 60% of youth with major depression do not receive any mental health treatment. Even in states with the greatest access, nearly one in three are going without treatment. In Texas, the bottom-ranked state for this indicator, nearly three-quarters of youth with depression did not receive mental health treatment. 
• Nationally, fewer than 1 in 3 youth with severe depression receive consistent mental health care. Even among youth with severe depression who receive some treatment, only 27% received consistent care. In Tennessee, the bottom-ranked state, that rate is as low as 12%. 65.6% of youth in Maine (ranked 1st) received consistent treatment, which is 16% higher than Vermont (49.7%) which is ranked 2nd.
• Both adults and youth in the U.S. continue to lack adequate insurance coverage. 11.1% of Americans with a mental illness are uninsured. There was a 0.3% increase from last year’s dataset, the second year in a row that this indicator increased since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). 8.1% of children had private insurance that did not cover mental health services, totaling 950,000 youth. 
• Rates of substance use are increasing for youth and adults, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. 7.74% of U.S. adults and 4.08% of youth had a substance use disorder in the past year. Substance use increased 0.07% for adults and 0.25% for youth over last year’s report.

CALIFORNIA:

• A survey of 1,200 California students in 2020 and 2021 found that 68 percent said they feel they may require mental health services but are not receiving them. Sources of stress ranged from family and financial pressure to missing peers and friends during the pandemic.
• Young adults in California experience mental health challenges at alarming rates, with more than 75% reporting anxiety in the last year, more than 50% reporting depression, 31% experiencing suicidal thinking and 16% self-harm, according to the results of a California Endowment survey conducted from Sept. 9-18 using an online panel.  Learn More.
• The poll of nearly 800 Californians ages 18 to 24 also found young people facing significant barriers to getting help — with nearly half of those who wanted to speak to a mental health professional saying they had been unable to do so, and many saying cost or lack of access had stopped them.
• Mental health ranked just behind the cost of housing as a widespread problem for young adults, with 82% calling it an extremely or very serious problem.
• About half of young Californians said the expense of mental health care would be a major challenge for them if they needed help.
• 70% of schools reported an increase in students seeking services since the pandemic in 2020, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.  56% of public schools nationwide believe they could effectively provide mental health services for students.
• Roughly Half of Public Schools Report That They Can Effectively Provide Mental Health Services to All Students in Need
• Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, up to 1 in 5 children under 17 years old in the United States reported experiencing a mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral challenge.   As noted in the December 2021 U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory, mental health challenges have significantly increased since the onset of the pandemic. 
• The U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on America’s “Youth Mental Health Crisis” in December 2021. In August 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $4.7 billion “master plan” for children’s mental health.