What are the goals of National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day?
1. To raise awareness of effective programs for children’s mental health needs.
2. To demonstrate how children’s mental health initiatives promote positive youth development, recovery, and resilience.
3. To show how children with mental health needs thrive in their communities.
What is the overall message of National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day?
The overall message of Awareness Day is that children and youth with mental health needs and their families are thriving in the community. Children’s mental health initiatives promote positive youth development, prevention, recovery, and resilience for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families. It is a goal of children’s mental health initiatives to transform the mental health service delivery system for children and youth with mental health needs and their families.
How will the goals of National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day be achieved and the message be conveyed?
The goals of Awareness Day will be achieved, and the message will be conveyed, through the use of the following communications strategies:
1. To hold events on a single day to call attention to our very important work;
2. To launch at least one “act of local partnership” to support their sustainability; and
3. To feature data that illustrates how children and families in children’s mental health initiatives are thriving at home, at school, and in the community. The data will show that the activities of these initiatives are transforming mental health by fostering resilience, thereby helping to ensure that recovery is possible.
By coordinating events and activities from all children’s mental health initiatives on a single day, we will gain national impact while keeping activities locally oriented. We will celebrate that we are transforming mental health services for children, youth, and families. Awareness Day will appeal to a broad range of parties and potential partners, and it will generate positive media attention. By taking part, you will bring attention to the mission and successes of your program and take a hopeful, giant step toward ensuring the sustainability of your program.
Why was “Thriving in the Community” chosen as the theme for Awareness Day?
The theme for Awareness Day, “Thriving in the Community,” serves to support SAMHSA’s vision of “Life in the Community for Everyone.” The child-serving agencies and organizations that partner with children’s mental health initiatives will play a significant role 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 was May 8 selected as the date for National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day?
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 was established by the 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 Federation of Families on Children’s Mental Health Week events for the past 10 years, and they will be an invaluable resource for Awareness Day.
Children's Mental Health Matters!
