Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of children and young adults being treated for mental health or substance abuse problems had been soaring. Lockdowns, masking and the fear of SARS-CoV-2 only enhanced that trend, according to experts.
Florida Blue announced today that the health plan will donate $400,000 through its Florida Blue Foundation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to help those organizations better implement behavioral health practices.
"Children today face many challenges that impact their emotional and mental well-being," Susan Towler, executive director of the Florida Blue Foundation, said in a press release. “By increasing access to mental health services and support, we can transform lives and help our youth better navigate and overcome social-emotional challenges.”
The grant comes from a $10 million pool of money committed to addressing the problems of youth mental health over four years by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
"We know every child and teen is better equipped to succeed when we meet them where they are to address their needs, and that includes providing access to reliable mental health resources and support," Jim Clark, Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s president and CEO, said in June.
Meeting patients where they are is especially critical for Black and Hispanic youth with a mental health condition, as they're more likely than white youth to experience negative outcomes, according to experts.
In its announcement today, the Florida Blue Foundation cited a statistic by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration saying that more than two-thirds of children experience at least one traumatic childhood experience by age 16.
"Adverse childhood experiences can put children at higher risk for mental health challenges later in life," Nick Dewan, M.D., vice president of behavioral health for Florida Blue, said in the press release. "By raising awareness and equipping adults on how to better support our youth facing behavioral health challenges, we can help children and teens feel more hopeful about their future and increase their ability to flourish as they grow into young adults.”
The aim is to make the more than 5,000 Boys & Girls Clubs more aware of trauma by 2026, and the program will hopefully buttress the emotional and mental health of about 3.6 million youngsters and 48,000 Boys & Girls Clubs of America staff across the nation.
Nearly half of the 294 Boys & Girls Clubs of America locations in Florida have already begun trauma-informed practices, according to the release.
The mental health crisis affecting youth echoes the mental health crisis facing the entire country.
A study in JAMA Network Open published last month noted that individuals with mental health problems represented 8% of emergency department visits, something that surprised corresponding author Renee Y. Hsia, M.D.
The fact that eight out of 100 ED visits is mental-health-related is significant, because EDs take care of “all comers, meaning that we take care of patients from car crashes, trauma, falls, as well as patients with shortness of breath such as asthma and pneumonia, to patients with chest pain such as heart attacks and aortic ruptures, to abdominal pain such as infections and surgical emergencies,” said Hsia, a professor at the University of California, who also works as an attending physician at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.