Addressing mental health and social needs in tandem to promote health equity

Improving child and adolescent mental health requires multi-sectoral solutions. The US Surgeon General’s Advisory on the youth mental health crisis outlines the many efforts various sectors of society can undertake in addressing youth mental health. This includes roles for health care teams that serve this population, such as in screening children and youth for mental health risk factors and challenges. The Surgeon General also explicitly calls for assessing and addressing not only mental health needs but also the other needs of caregivers and family members.

This paper calls attention to and broadens the scope of the Surgeon General’s instruction to assess and address youth mental health alongside the other needs of caregivers and families as a strategy for improving child and adolescent mental health.