A children’s mental health crisis was building before the COVID-19 pandemic. It has now reached emergency proportions—a “tsunami,” according to Brad Schlaggar, CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute.

All evidence points to untenable behavioral health challenges in our communities, including among youngsters who have been acutely affected by isolation and other symptoms of the pandemic. The ongoing, heart-breaking scourge of gun violence in their schools and neighborhoods only adds to these health problems—traumatizing survivors and worsening anxiety for many more.

This week MHA will convene hospital leaders for a Behavioral Health Roundtable to share strategies and craft future policy to address this complicated issue. Primary topics will be the youth mental health crisis, including hospital overstays—ED boarding being a big part of that—and the lack of an integrated system of care for youth.

We invite you to attend this quarterly roundtable and be a part of this conversation Wednesday, June 8 at 9:30 a.m. Click here to register. (For questions, please contact Erin Dorrien, MHA’s vice president of policy.)

This is a critical public health matter and one our state—and our nation—must address, soon. MHA looks forward to working with you on that front.

Bob Atlas
President & CEO