Critical need for youth mental health services

Earlier this year, the U.S. Surgeon General warned that adolescents are confronting an exacerbated mental health crisis as a result of the many challenges experienced by their generation. The report noted emergency room visits for suicide attempts increased 51 percent for adolescent girls. This issue is not new, but the pandemic has certainly intensified it.

Due to the severity of its staffing shortages, Ellis Hospital in Schenectady informed employees recently that it would temporarily close its inpatient

adolescent mental health unit.

Even in an organization as highly structured and individualized as ours, there are crucial moments in which we use Ellis Hospital and other inpatient hospitalizations as a necessary part of our continuum of quality individualized care.

Our state Legislature has to do more. We must invest in the mental health workforce by adopting rate increases, wage increases and bonus payments. We need to accentuate successful, individualized, nontraditional programs. These initiatives would acknowledge the importance of mental health professionals and allow for better workforce development.

We must invest in our children’s future and recognize the severity of the need for quality services at a time when mental health resources for adolescents are in short supply. This is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to raise public awareness and educate people about mental health issues and challenges.

Alex Capo

Burnt Hills Executive director, The Charlton School