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Investing in the mental health of our children is one of the best ways that societies can help to ensure a prosperous future.
Please consider that:
Our children's emotional well-being is clearly in crisis. While every other aspect of personal health has improved during this century, mental health statistics degrade annually. Youth suicide has increased 400% over the past 30 years. The incidence of school-aged children with psychiatric disorders has increased from 7% to 18%. Aggressive behaviour in 3 to 4 year olds now stands at 23%, and as many as 71% of these seriously aggressive six year-olds will grow up to become seriously violent and aggressive adults.
How frightening are these statistics? With emotional disturbance and mental illness occurring among children and youth at rates of 18 to 23%, we face a dangerous public health problem with costs that far exceed the human suffering involved. Day treatment costs for school-aged children with violent or aggressive behaviour can reach $12,000 per year. Residential treatment costs for a seriously disturbed adolescent can top $70,000 per year. Incarceration in prison, which is so often part of the downward spiral of failed personal development, costs us more than $50,000 each year per inmate.
Children's mental health affects the entire fabric of our society. Unlike so many other human health issues, its effects are not limited to individual suffering, but often impact whole communities with disruptive and sometimes dangerous consequences. There is no one reason for these alarming statistics. A wide range of social trends contribute to the growing isolation of children and families within our communities - and no social, ethnic or economic group within our society is exempt. Without an informed and caring response, the problem only grows worse as our children age.
The Hincks-Dellcrest Foundation is dedicated to providing for the mental health needs of infants, children, youth and their families so that they can function effectively as healthy participants in our communities. We accomplish this vital work through our financial support of the Institute and the Treatment Centre. These sister organizations are Canadian pioneers in the area of children's mental health services.
The Hincks-Dellcrest Treatment Centre answers Canada's urgent need for new models for early intervention and direct care. Our programs benefit not just the children suffering emotional and behavioural distress, but also their families, schools, and the communities in which these children live. The Centre's initiatives span the gamut of traditional clinical, residential, and day-treatment care, to include brand new, self-sustaining community-based approaches. We innovate within a multi-disciplinary, team context and build upon each success by involving other agencies and community organizations in collaborative and ongoing projects.
The Hincks-Dellcrest Centre - Gail Appel Institute is a true 'catalyst' for change, serving a pivotal role in influencing public policy, as well as the direction of several key organizations, including psychiatric and social work faculties, colleges, and related hospital and treatment facilities. The Institute focuses on research, education, and the development of multi-disciplinary leadership in the area of children's mental health. With its independent funding channels and community-based Board of Directors, the Institute is free to innovate, inform, and create. We are free in fact, to help our children.
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