A new report released by the nonpartisan Aspen Health Strategy Group (AHSG), an initiative of the Health, Medicine & Society Program of the Aspen Institute, examines the urgent need to address youth mental health challenges and identifies opportunities for health sector leaders to take action. “Addressing the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Crisis” is the product of a year-long, in-depth study and reflects the consensus of 20 senior leaders in the public and private sectors.
“The increasing levels of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts among our young people must be a call to action,” says AHSG co-chair Kathleen Sebelius, former US Secretary of Health and Human Services and former Governor of Kansas. “We must make a broad-based societal commitment to identify and implement evidence-based solutions.”
The report can be read online; a list of AHSG participants is included below.
“Five Big Ideas” to tackle the current crisis are identified in the report:
- Prioritize prevention with measures to reduce the incidence of poor mental health, identify people at risk, and deliver services before conditions worsen.
- Improve access to care by redesigning the youth mental health care delivery system and developing payment and licensing policies that support that redesign.
- Improve the caliber of mental health care services by examining existing quality measures, developing new ones as needed, and adopting those measures in payment and licensing policies.
- Support local institutions, especially schools, building on the recognition that strong mental health has its roots in the community. Working together, families, schools, and religious and voluntary organizations can all contribute to the range of preventive and treatment services youths need.
- Embrace the potential of technology, such as by broadening the use of telehealth, streamlining regulations for licensing technology-based interventions, expanding randomized controlled trials of digital therapeutics, and developing strategies to ensure the optimal use of social media.
“The good news is that there are preventive and treatment approaches that work to address the mental health crisis among our youth,” says William Frist, also co-chair of the AHSG, and formerly US Senator from Tennessee and Senate majority leader. “The health sector has a pivotal leadership role to play to put them into policy and practice.”
As part of their research, AHSG members heard from three young people who shared their own mental health struggles candidly. Further context came from a package of background papers, included in the report, that describe the risk and protective factors associated with adolescent mental health; the disproportionate burdens borne by people of color; the importance of culturally responsive care; the roles for schools and communities; current reimbursement strategies and possible alternatives; and the need to reexamine service delivery in order to reduce inefficiencies and tailor care to the evidence base.
The report highlights an alarming epidemic. In 2022, one in five adolescents had a major depressive episode, and one in eight reported serious thoughts of suicide. Yet more than 40 percent of adolescents with a major depressive episode in the past year received no mental health treatment at all.
The report calls for strong, mutually beneficial collaborative partnerships across science, practice, and policy, engaging policymakers, healthcare administrators, educators, clinicians, advocates, community leaders, and patients. “If science-backed strategies are deployed with respect for the foundational humanistic ideals of equity, compassion, and respect, we have enormous potential to reduce suffering and improve quality of life,” concludes the report.
