Children’s Mental Health Overview

What if it was as accepted and “normal” to have a mental illness as a physical illness?  Mental health has a bad rap.  It’s had a bad rap for a long time– ever since we started putting people away, locking people up in asylums, and sweeping things under the carpet.  Things have gotten better, and we still have a long ways to go.

Awareness Comes First

Some populations are in need of more attention and education than others, especially when it comes to dispelling myths and making it acceptable to have a mental illness.  Children and teenagers are one of those populations that we can serve better.  What would it look like if it was “OK” for your child or my child to receive treatment for mental illness?  What if we were able to inherently reward parents who took care of their children in that way?  What if checking in with regard to someone’s mental health was just a normal part of the healthcare conversation rather than the first thing that gets swept beneath the rug?

We may be able to reduce or completely avoid the time, money, and energy spent on treatment down the road if we are more aware in the present moment.  Last year, we pushed an article about Mental Health and Children, which highlighted some of the research that came out from the Child Mind Institute’s first ever researched-based report card for children’s mental health in America.

The results were astounding:

• About 1/3 of children who need mental health actually get treatment
• 80% of youth with anxiety don’t receive any treatment
• 60% of children with a form of diagnosable depression don’t get treated.

The PTI Difference

To us, and hopefully to you as well, that is unacceptable and quite frankly astounding!  We know that stereotypes have a big role in that as well as the expectations, hopes, and fears that parents often– whether knowingly or unknowingly– place on their children.  Now mind you, just because someone is in need of treatment doesn’t necessarily mean that they need counseling or medication.  If medication isn’t something that you want to do with your child, there may be other suitable treatment methods that will get the same results.  Wouldn’t you want to trust your child’s well being to a professional who is equipped and ready to meet you where you are and let you know what all the options are?

We are THE qualified and professional treatment team that’s standing by and ready to take part in you and your child’s success.  We’re not here to string you along or to collect a paycheck.  As we’ve said before, we’re after results.  We put our client’s first and foremost always, and that means that you are in the driver’s seat so that your success has the most momentum when we’re not in the picture.

According to the research, teenagers who experience depression are at 50% higher risk of having long-term depression as an adult.  We’d like to see that figure cut down to size and we’d like to be part of the solution.  We do our best to offer a welcoming and easy environment to walk into and focus on efficiency and timeliness so that you don’t have to sit around waiting to see the doctor and you can get on with the rest of your day.  To us, that’s a big part of putting our clients first.

We move efficiently so that when your child comes in for a mental health screening, we can get you the results you need in a timely manner.  What if your child could start getting the treatment they need within a month rather than in a year?  What difference would that make in their academic performance, behavior, and relationships?  That’s an entire year– or more– saved because we started strong, and that means we can finish strong.  Why not have the best for your child