National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day
Frequently Asked Questions

What is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day?

May 8th, 2008 will be the third annual National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day (Awareness Day) launched by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Awareness Day is an opportunity for SAMHSA, SAMHSA-funded communities, and partner organizations to promote positive youth development, resilience, recovery, and the transformation of mental health services delivery for children and youth with serious mental health needs and their families. The theme for Awareness Day is Thriving in the Community. This year there is a special emphasis that high school youth who receive the services they need are more likely to have positive outcomes such as better grades and higher rates of education and less likely to have negative outcomes such as involvement with the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

The three goals of National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day are to:

1. Raise awareness of effective programs for children's mental health issues;
2. Demonstrate how children's mental health initiatives promote positive youth development, recovery, and resilience; and
3. Show how children with mental health needs thrive in their community.

When is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day?

This year's national Children's Mental Health Awareness Day will be held on Thursday, May 8th. Awareness Day is scheduled to build on long-standing May is mental Health Month and Children's Mental Health Week traditions of mental health and family organizations. May is Mental Health Month was first celebrated by Mental Health America (formerly the National Mental Health Association) 50 years ago as a way to further elevate awareness of children's mental health. Children's Mental Health Week, which is held the first full week in May, was established by the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health.

By holding Awareness Day on May 8, children's mental health initiatives and programs will have the opportunity to partner with the numerous family and mental health organizations that are holding events during this time. In particular, we see substantial opportunities for children's mental health initiatives to partner with their local statewide family network organizations. These organizations have been collaborating with the National Federation of Families on Children's Mental Health Week events for over 10 years, and they will be an invaluable resource for Awareness Day.

Why is This Year's Theme for National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day "Thriving in the Community"?

The theme for Awareness Day serves to support SAMHSA's vision of "Life in the Community for Everyone." The artistic, athletic, and academic achievements of children and youth with serious mental health needs will serve as the basis for events planned at the local level. The child-serving agencies and organizations that partner with children's mental health initiatives will play a significant roll in identifying children and youth whose achievements have enriched schools, neighborhoods, and the greater community in which they live. Showcasing academic achievement will highlight the crucial role education plays in successful children's mental health initiatives, while celebrations of both artistic and athletic abilities can spark ideas for new partnerships, both within and outside the educational system, that provide additional outlets for children and youth with serious mental health needs to thrive.

Why participate in the National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day?

In July 2005, SAMHSA unveiled Transforming Mental Health Care in America: The Federal Action Agenda: The First Step. The Action Agenda, the product of an unprecedented collaboration between six cabinet-level departments and the Social Security Administration, for a total of 20 federal agencies, outlines the initial steps toward meeting the challenge of creating an effective nationwide mental health system. The system it envisions is focused on mental health promotion, mental illness prevention, and provision of services that allow children with mental health challenges to thrive at home, at school, and in the community.

The need for such a system is clear. In 2004, 22.5 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 had received treatment or counseling for emotional or behavioral problems during the previous year. For example, 9 percent reported experiencing at least one major depressive episode. Between 2002 and 2003, approximately one-fifth of students in elementary and middle schools had received some kind of service related to mental, behavioral, and emotional health challenges.

Who are the SAMHSA partners for National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day?

Executive Partnership 2008

Mental Health America (MHA)
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health

Co-Sponsors

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP)
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
American Counseling Association (ACA)
American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD)
National Association of State Directors of Special Education, Inc. (NASDSE)
National Association for Children's Behavioral Health (NACBH)
National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA)
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare (National Council)
School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA)
The Annie E. Casey Foundation

Supporters

American Association of Children's Residential Centers (AACRC)
American Mental Health Counselors Association
American School Health Association (ASHA)
Boys and Girls Clubs of America
Boys Town National Research Institute for Children and Family Studies
Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation
Child Welfare League of America (CWLA)
Children's Defense Fund
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF)
National Assembly of School-Based Health Care (NASBHC)
National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH)
National School Board Association (NSBA)
The Residential Care Consortium (RCC)

SAMHSA Partners

Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS)
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)

What resources are available to support my programs/communities to celebrate National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day?

• Planning Notebook (English and Spanish)
• Compact Disc (CD in English)
• Compact Disc (CD in Spanish)

More materials are available under the Materials section of this website.

Results from the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health Series H-28, page 97, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Office of Applied Studies.