The Village Dispatch: CMHRC's March Newsletter
Topic: The Shocking Reality of Mental Health Treatment Access
Giving Corner: You Can Turn The Tide

Wednesday Webinars: Forever or For Now: Attachment and Bonding with Your Foster and Adoptive Children
Clinical Seminar for Professionals: Can Kids Have Bipolar? How to Recognize and Diagnose Bipolar in Kids 
Book Club: Little and Lion by Brandy Colbert

It’s time to confront a shocking reality: only 6.9% of people with mental health disorders receive the effective treatment they so desperately need. This statistic comes from a study, newly published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Feb 2025), and conducted by researchers at Harvard University Medical School and the University of British Columbia.

It paints a grim picture of the state of mental healthcare today, but the issue runs deeper than the number itself. 

One of the most significant barriers to effective treatment is lack of recognition. Mental health conditions often go unnoticed, overlooked, explained away as bad choices, or flat out misdiagnosed. Especially in children. Misperceptions that children cannot have or be diagnosed with mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and other mood disorders leads to delays in accessing the proper help. 

But, even when mental health conditions are recognized in children, that doesn't mean that effective treatment is available. According to researchers at Brown University and the Center for Disease Control, not a single state in the country reports an adequate supply of child psychiatrists, and 43 states are experiencing a severe shortage. As a result, families are left with limited access to resources, waiting lists that stretch months or even years, and in some cases are forced to choose between short-term relief and long-term recovery. This inadequate availability of care stands in the way of improvement for individuals, families, and the system as a whole. 

For many, the journey to recovery is a difficult one, filled with uncertainty and confusion about where to turn for support, and the consequences are devastating. 

At CMHRC we work every day to make sure that no family has to face these challenges alone. Our mission, to offer guidance and resources to families and the professionals who provide their care, focuses on solutions not just for individuals, but for the larger mental healthcare system.

We are dedicated to: 

1. Raising awareness. We start by acknowledging the prevalence of mental illness in children and teens, treating those children and their parents as respected partners in care, and promoting the simple but necessary idea that mental health conditions are of equal importance and urgency as physical illnesses.
2. Supporting early intervention. Early detection and intervention is the best tool we have to support long-term success. We provide fact based information on diagnoses, provider continuing education, family psychoeducation and support, parenting classes, and at home interventions that improve quality of life immediately.
3. Demanding better care. At CMHRC we work in collaboration with children, families, and professionals to advocate for accessible, affordable, and personalized mental healthcare. It's not just about having more services, but having the right services that cater to the specific symptoms of childhood onset mental illness.
4. Reducing stigma. For too long, mental illness has been shrouded in shame and misunderstanding. By fostering open, honest conversations, we can help break down these barriers and create a culture where acknowledging mental illness is seen as a sign of strength.

You have the power to help create change. Explore the information on our website, attend our free webinars and clinical seminars, sign up for the CMHRC Book Club, share this newsletter and our website with others, talk openly about mental health disorders and their impact, advocate for better mental healthcare policies, and support us in this daily work.

Together, we can ensure that more children and teens receive the effective treatment they deserve.

With Your Contribution

We Can Begin to Turn The Tide On This Crisis

At CMHRC, we are on a mission to change these sobering statistics. We believe that everyone deserves access to effective mental health care, and we are committed to breaking down the barriers that prevent people from getting the help they need.

But we can’t do it alone.

We are asking for your support in raising crucial funds to:

• Increase awareness and education about mental health, so that recognition happens sooner and more families seek help.
• Advocate for better resources and access to care, ensuring that those who are diagnosed can receive timely, effective treatment.
• Provide direct support to individuals and families who are struggling, with services that address their unique needs.

Every donation makes a real difference. For example:

• • A gift of $50 can help us provide critical mental health resources and support for a family in need.
  • A gift of $200 can fund an outreach campaign to raise awareness and reduce stigma.
  • A donation of $500 can sponsor a workshop to train healthcare professionals on recognizing and treating mental health conditions in childhood.

When parents and families have access to the guidance and resources we offer, everything changes for the better for the child, the parents, and the whole family. 

If your child is struggling with mental health issues, help is available. Reach out to to us today. You are not alone.

Children in foster care have significantly higher rates of mental illness, and there may be associations among early deficits in care, placement history, and mental illness.

Attachment, bonding, and the creation of safe environments are key pieces of creating successful foster and adoptive experiences for children and parents.

But attachment and bonding are not always the same thing, and experience shows that understanding the differences and supporting foster and adoptive parents in this process is vital.

Don’t miss this deep dive into attachment and parenting with Social Worker and Adoptive Parent Liaison, Angela Jamison, from Adoption Support of Kentucky. 

Many" style="line-height: 21px;"> practitioners have been taught that kids under the age of 16 or 18 years old can’t have bipolar disorder. But that’s simply not true.

" style="line-height: 21px;">Bipolar in the pediatric population can be difficult to identify, even for well trained and well intentioned providers. Everything from a different symptom presentation

" style="line-height: 21px;">than adults, to intersections with trauma, to competing DSM diagnoses can make it hard to recognize if you don’t know what to look for.

" style="line-height: 21px;">Come join us for a review of symptoms and a discussion on how to integrate this knowledge into your clinical practice.

When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she’s isn’t sure if she’ll ever want to go back. L.A. is where her friends and family are (as well as her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support.

But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new… the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel’s disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself–or worse.

*CMHRC Book Club sessions have a non-refundable $10 registration fee, which supports the Book Club staffing as well as our other free programs and services. 

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