Research tells a bleak story of U.S. children and youth with unmet mental health needs (anxiety, depression, eating disorders, etc.). One-in-five children and adolescents experiences a mental health condition in a given year. One-in-ten high school students attempted suicide one or more times during the past year. And 59% of youth with major…

Pastoral care in education aims to promote the holistic development of all pupils whilst supporting those who experience challenging personal circumstances. Significant developments have been made in this field in recent years, including increased focus in Initial Teacher Education, yet major challenges remain to be addressed nationally and…

Children in the United States are facing unprecedented mental health challenges. In October 2021, First Focus on Children joined other leading children's health organizations to declare a national state of emergency regarding child mental health in the Sound the Alarm campaign, and in December 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory…

School absenteeism among children and adolescents has been associated with a myriad of adverse outcomes. Despite a substantial amount of research on school attendance, our understanding of absenteeism in elementary-aged children with mental health difficulties is limited. The current study used a mixed-method sequential explanatory design to gain…

While globally advances have been made to recognize children as social actors in their own right, for psychiatrized young people their experiences of distress are often seen as a limitation and thus used as a justification for denying their meaningful participation in matters of concern to their lives. However, what would it mean if 'mental…

Little is known about the functioning of children in veteran-connected families, who may experience a unique constellation of stressors including exposure to parental mental health symptoms and unemployment. Further, research has not previously considered the role of school climate in counteracting these stressors for veteran-connected students.…

Prior research provides mixed findings on the prevalence of sleep problems and mental health difficulties experienced by gifted children, with findings largely based on studies of small clinical samples. In a large, prospective, longitudinal, community cohort, the current study aimed to examine parent report of child sleep problems at ages 1, 2, 3…

This study explored the role of occupational therapy practitioners (OTPs) in school-based practice addressing mental health (MH) needs of all students. A sequential explanatory mixed method design which included two stages. Stage One: 61 OTPs in Southern California completed an online survey. Stage Two: 15 OTPs engaged in either an interview or a…

Mental health is complex, comprising both mental distress and well-being. This study used latent class analysis to identify common combinations of mental distress and well-being ('mental health classes') among schoolchildren aged 8-9 years (N = 3340).Thirteen items, measuring a range of conduct problems, emotional symptoms, and subjective…

Although gender has become a key dimension in migration research, previous scholarship has largely focused on adult rather than child migrants. Even less attention has been paid to the role of gender in migration-related child health. By comparing rural migrant and urban-born adolescents in the largest city in south China, this study assessed…

Children's mental health services have experienced major cuts since 2010. In parallel, our education system has undergone a period of significant transformation. In this paper, I discuss the implications of these developments for the mental health of children and young people. This includes examination of the differing ways in which mental health…

Educationalists have been concerned with the labelling and treatment of children with mental health difficulties in the education system in England for some time. These concerns have centred on the role of policy in 'othering' such students as deviant learners. The unprecedented number of children suffering from mental illnesses, has forced…

Humphrey is right in stressing the importance of child and adolescent mental health. Mental disorders commonly emerge during adolescence and can persist into adulthood with adverse consequences for adult mental health, social outcomes and economic productivity (Patton et al., 2014). It is important to add how important it is to prevent and to…

The benefits of school-based mental health services have been supported in prior research and literature. Studies have shown that approximately one in five youths in schools today have diagnosable mental health disorders. However, research has identified that close to 70 percent of those youths do not receive the services they need. This gap in…

Mental health services for rural youth are extremely limited, especially given the national shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAPs). Patient-centered primary care medical homes (PCMHs) are often their only available portal of care, yet high-quality PCMH integrated models of behavioral health that include a CAP are rare. This…