That kids and adolescents struggle with their mental health is a matter of record. That their psychological needs aren’t adequately being met is, too.
To shine a light on the mental health support children require, The Kids Mental Health Foundation is launching its “Kids’ Mental Health Starts with Us” campaign in May in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month.
The campaign features a national public service announcement and a documentary short directed by filmmaker and actor Soleil Moon Frye and starring celebrities Malin Akerman, David and Christina Arquette, Lance Bass and Michael Turchin, Anna Cathcart, Jordan Chiles and Lucy Hale.
The aim is to “normalize dialogue around mental health and encourage families to talk openly, access The Kids Mental Health Foundation’s free resources, and support one another — helping to ensure that no child feels alone in navigating emotional challenges,” the organization says.
Moon Frye was introduced to the organization by Angel Carter Conrad, twin sister of the late singer and actor Aaron Carter, whose been vocal about suddenly losing three of her four siblings to drug use. Carter Conrad and her family discuss the toll unaddressed mental health struggles can have on families in the documentary.
“I was so in awe of the incredible work that they’ve been doing to really raise awareness around kids’ mental health and the incredible resources they have,” Moon Frye tells TODAY.com about The Kids Mental Health Foundation. “And I said to them, ‘Please, how can I be a part of this?’”
Moon Frye likens the importance of children’s mental health to that of their physical health. “We look at physical education … in our kids’ schools, and so often we don’t look at what’s going on with the brain and what’s going on with our mental health,” she says.
Her goal is to destigmatize conversations about mental health and the disorders associated with it. Shame surrounding these conversations has lessened tremendously since the 80s and 90s, but there’s more work to be done, Moon Frye and the stars featured in the documentary say.
Data from 2022 found that nearly 20% of children between 3-17 years old have mental, emotional, developmental or behavioral disorders. Suicide is among the leading causes of death in adolescents globally.
While you might be inclined to place extra blame on the COVID pandemic in 2020, which certainly took a toll on our psychological health, research found that mental health conditions were on the rise before then.
Rather than putting the onus on youths to address their mental health and advocate for resources, Ariana Hoet, Ph.D., pediatric psychologist and executive clinical director of The Kids Mental Health Foundation, says the organization and its PSA is for adults.
“We want to talk to parents and caregivers and teachers,” Hoet tells TODAY.com. “Most people, they’re not listening to me, the psychologist. They’re listening to people they relate to. They’re listening to people that they trust — that they know,” she adds. So, she’s grateful for the participation of the many celebrities who shared their personal experiences with panic attacks, anxiety, substance use and personal loss for the campaign.
“Every human has an experience with mental health, whether in their own childhood or as adults, or now that they’re parents. They’re trying to figure it out, and so we’re hoping to just normalize that,” she adds. Her hope is for anyone watching to see themselves in some of the many faces included in the documentary short.
The Kids Mental Health Foundation offers parents and caregivers free children’s mental health resources.Courtesy Mercy Hasselblad and Jobim Hanwright
But it doesn’t stop there. It’s one thing to acknowledge the difficulties children are having, but Hoet says parents and caregivers need to know what to do next. “That’s where we come in, that’s what our resources are for,” says Hoet.
In addition to the support offered on the site, the organization sends resources and conversation starters to parents. Moon Frye uses them with her own family so that her children don’t suffer in silence like she and many of her peers did, especially now that today’s kids are growing up with social media.
She uses the conversation prompts while in the car with her children and around the dinner table, she says. “It just creates dialogues and ways to better communicate. And I think communication is so much of the key to our wellbeing, right?”