Report of the Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health

A National Action Agenda

by Marcia Purse

The Surgeon General's report, released on January 3, 2001, is a call to action. It contains the really scary statistic that one in ten U.S. children has a mental illness, and of those, at most two out of ten is getting proper treatment. That means eight or nine out of every hundred children in the United States has some kind of mental disorder that is not being correctly or effectively treated. Those children are, in great numbers, fated, to join the masses of the homeless, or fill the country's jails and prisons - or die by their own hands.

In the foreword, Dr. David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General, says, "This report introduces a blueprint for addressing children's mental health in the United States." It is certainly comprehensive, and in its commitment to making quality mental healthcare services available to all children, could pave the way for universal healthcare in the U.S. to become a reality - at its ideal best. But that ideal stands at the end of a long road filled with hard work to establish many reforms and new programs.

The report identifies eight goals - all of which are of extreme importance:

1. Promote public awareness of children's mental health issues and reduce stigma associated with mental illness.

2. Continue to develop, disseminate, and implement scientifically-proven prevention and treatment services in the field of children's mental health.

3. Improve the assessment and recognition of mental health needs in children.

4. Eliminate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in access to mental healthcare.

5. Improve the infrastructure for children's mental health services including support for scientifically-proven interventions across professions.

6. Increase access to and coordination of quality mental healthcare services.

7. Train frontline providers to recognize and manage mental health issues, and educate mental health providers in scientifically-proven prevention and treatment services.

8. Monitor the access to and coordination of quality mental healthcare services.

The scope of the recommendations is almost staggering in showing just how much is wrong with mental healthcare for children today. Education is needed for the public, for healthcare providers, for mental health professionals, for teachers and administrators, for social service providers, and for all levels of the criminal justice system. From standardizing the language to overcoming stigma to adding more services in both heavily and sparsely populated areas, from training minority providers to supporting research into diagnosis, treatment, pathology and prevention, this report has it all. The challenge now will be to implement the recommendations of this aptly-named National Action Agenda.