Hundreds Of Thousands Of Kids With Mental Health Needs Aren't Receiving Necessary Help

By TND
Posted on 09/22/22 | News Source: FOX45

With children now back in school, there's growing attention to an invisible and ongoing threat to their health and safety. Leading health experts agree U.S. children are facing a mental health crisis, and new data suggests the country is lagging behind when it comes to meeting young people's urgent needs.

Seattle mom Stephanie Simpson will never forget the extreme measures she had to take to keep her child safe as he struggled with his mental health. Her son was just 9 years old, a third-grader, when he started developing symptoms, including debilitating headaches, and eventually suicidal thoughts.

To prevent him from harming himself, Stephanie was forced to hide her kitchen knives in a lockbox.

At one point, Stephanie rushed her son to the emergency room, desperate to understand what was happening. An exact diagnosis would take nearly a year. Her son was suffering from OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"It's a tremendous amount of work to figure out what's going on with your child because there aren't really good resources," Stephanie told Spotlight on America.