Growing need to support Illinois children’s mental health

Policy News Update by Tony Ohlhausen, NAMI Chicago Policy Manager
January 2021

A Lurie Children’s Hospital study from July 2020 found 20% of children in Illinois are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition, largely due to stress related to the pandemic. This signals a massive increase in the need for mental health support for the state’s kids.

With the pandemic, kids are dealing with the loss of peer contact and social interaction in school, the loss of a relative, a financial strain due to a parent losing a job combined with the group of kids who are untreated and unrecognized this percentage is growing. Before the pandemic, only a fraction of children who needed mental health treatment were able to access care. Now, it is likely even more difficult.

These challenges cannot be solved overnight, nor can they be solved by legislation alone. However, NAMI Chicago has been working hard to expand access to mental health services for youth and young adults across the state.

For years, NAMI Chicago has been providing mental health awareness training in classrooms across the city through our Ending the Silence (ETS) program. ETS is a 90-minute curriculum for high school students that incorporates a young adult sharing their personal experience addressing their mental health needs as well as tools for students to seek the help they or a friend needs. NAMI Chicago has also created a dedicated online hub for youth mental health to help kids, family members, and educators best support themselves and those they care about. In 2020, NAMI Chicago presented ETS to over 10,000 students across the city.

As part of the Healthy Minds Healthy Lives Coalition, NAMI Chicago supported the passage of multiple pieces of state legislation aimed at making it easier for kids to get the mental health treatment they need. Through our efforts, Illinois has expanded Medicaid and private insurance coverage for in-home team-based mental health and substance use treatment for youth and young adults. Illinois is the first state in the country to mandate coverage for these models, like Assertive Community Treatment and Community Supported Treatment, for private insurance.

Further, mental health care needs don’t end when kids graduate high school and go to college. Nationally, only 25% of college students who need mental health services receive them. To address this huge gap in care, NAMI Chicago and Young Invincibles supported the passage of the Mental Health Early Action on Campus Act in 2019. The Act seeks to improve access to mental health treatment and support at Illinois public colleges and universities by increasing training and awareness, peer support, capacity building, and technical assistance.

There is still much work to be done to support the mental health of youth and young adults in Illinois. NAMI Chicago is committed to continue advocating for increased access to mental health services and supports for all children in the state.