For young people, the past several years have caused stress, frustration, and harmful events beyond their control, leading to a mental health crisis. Exacerbating the crisis, kids struggling with their mental health often have no place to go or face financial barriers to seeking help.
Nearly 1 in 10 kids was diagnosed with anxiety problems in 2020— a 21% increase from 2019.
(AMA, 2021).
44% of high school students reported they persistently felt sad or hopeless during the past year.
(CDC, 2021).
In Michigan, in the past year 16.55% of youth ages 12-17 suffered from at least one major depressive episode; 59.7% have not received mental health treatment.
(MHA, 2023).
Only about 4% of clinical psychologists specialize in child and adolescent mental health (APA,2022).
Since 2020, we have invested more than $4 million into the community to enable interventions that empower kids through their mental health challenges, and the need for our support continues to grow. We work with community partners and experts in the field to identify integrated and impactful interventions that ensure kids have timely, equitable access to quality mental health care.
Initial investments into TRAILS in 2020, helped bring mental health resources and education to the school setting, training staff to promote the emotional health of all students while better identifying and supporting those with existing mental health concerns. This ultimately led TRAILS (Transforming Research Into Action to Improve the Lives of Students) to receive State funding.
Because of proven impact, the Foundation invested $45,000 so TRAILS curriculum could be provided to City Year Detroit AmeriCorps members mentoring at Detroit Public Schools Community District.
OUR MISSION
The Children’s Foundation is a catalyst for change, partnering with the community to advance solutions and discoveries that improve the physical and mental health of children in Michigan.
