Reaching out to reduce children mental health disparities 

Many people from racial and ethnic minority groups have difficulty getting mental health care, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. There are varied reasons, including cost or lack of adequate health insurance coverage. 

CDC research also portrays the challenge of finding providers from one’s racial or ethnic group as a drawback. Stigma or negative ideas about mental health also play roles

According to Saint Louis County Department of Public Health and City of St. Louis Department of Health report in 2019, children 15 to 17 years had the highest average hospitalization rates for mental disorders from 2012 to 2016. This was true in both St. Louis County and St. Louis city.

The report also showed emergency department visit rates for mental disorders increased 52% among Black/African American residents and 44% among white residents from 2010 to 2016, in St. Louis County.

Similarly, the city emergency department visit rates for mental disorders increased 46% among Black/African American residents and 38% among white residents.

Natalie Williams, a trauma therapist at Mental Health America (MHA) of Eastern Missouri who works with kids from 3 years old to 18, said when many hear the word ‘trauma’, they will assume they don’t need therapy because they haven’t experienced a traumatic event.

However, once the kids start to open up, they realize they realize they have experienced it.

“A lot of the kids that I work with have been through all sorts of different types of traumas; gun violence, domestic violence, bullying in school and loss of a loved one; it’s a lot for some of my kiddos,” Williams said.

“I think for Black kids and Black families to have access to mental health professionals who look like them and perhaps have a greater understanding of what it’s like to live in St. Louis as a Black individual, especially Black males, it’s hugely important.”

As both a therapist and parent of two Black boys, Williams looks at the importance of mental health from multiple angles. While the topic doesn’t carry as much stigma today, there is still progress to be made.

“Creating a mental health awareness month [July] for communities that have been so stigmatized in so many different realms of their life [is essential.] To be able to bring light and awareness and most importantly hope to a community that struggling to find hope in general cause [is needed because] nobody should feel alone,” she said.

“There’s less stigma attached…I think there’s some things helping communities of color.”

Additionally, the organization offers free services and programs to the communities they serve in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County.

“We offer services in our office on Delmar, but then we also will meet people in their homes if they don’t have transportation or if it’s just you know, it’s hard if a parent has multiple kids to get one kid to therapy but other kids don’t,” Williams said.

“We’ll go into homes and meet with kids in our homes, we will meet with kids in the school during the school year at or at camps in the summer.”

Thea Trynock, marketing manager at Mental Health America (MHA) of Eastern Missouri, said it has programs for children across the St. Louis region. 

The PEACE (Preventing the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences) Clinical Program is an MHA program designed to help families combat the impacts of early adversity and reduce the likelihood of children developing toxic stress.

Through various therapeutic services, PEACE aims to strengthen caregiver-child relationships, while also helping children heal from stressful experiences and improve self-control and confidence in school, community, and social settings.

“We’ve seen an incredible first year, as it always takes a while to get the programs started [and] for people in the community to understand them. We’ve seen an incredible increase in clients that we’ve been able to serve,” Trynock said.

The Student Wellness Program (SWP) was created to enhance every young person’s learning and living by offering students, families, and schools’ insight, language, knowledge, and support in understanding the necessity of and need for mental health in a child’s education. 

“We started our student wellness program, which we are in partner schools, which include Loyola Academy, Miriam Academy, and the Parkway School District,” Trynock said.

“In Miriam and Loyola, we serve seventh grade students at the middle schools and in Parkway, we serve fifth, seventh, and 10th grade students.” 

This program provides mental wellness screenings in partner schools, offers customized referrals to trusted mental health practitioners, and follow up case management for students and families.

“We get [the child] in immediately, then we do case management and follow up with not only the students, but with the school and the counselors and the families as well,” she said

 “Our clinicians are in the schools every day during the school year, and they have a questionnaire for the kids to complete online, and it’s just a screening for mental health.”

The program started in August of 2022, after coming to MHA from another agency. It celebrated a full year last August.

“I think the big thing is just trying to squash the stigma around mental health, especially the minority communities, and we’re just really trying to let people know that mental health is for everyone,” she said.

MHA launched its national online mental health screening tools to help individuals understand and learn more about their mental health. Since then, over 21 million screens have been taken — over 6 million in 2021 alone and 15,000 per day. 

Since 2017, the organization has used the information gathered from the screening program to build content designed to help connect individuals with the information and resources they need.

“Everyone has mental health, but it’s not just a certain demographic problem, it is an everyone problem, and we just want to make sure that everyone feels comfortable opening up and getting the help they need because there’s no physical health without having your mental health taken care of as well,” Trynock said.