We All Have Mental Health

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

Visit 

CDE Help for Students in Crisis web page to find resources for addressing mental health and wellness for students over the summer.

As part of the American Psychological Association, the Working Group for Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Youth Mental Health reported:

• Childhood adversity is an important determinant of mental health disparities in ethnic and racial minority youth.
• Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic events that include, but are not limited to maltreatment, parental incarceration, neighborhood violence, family violence, and parental instability, all of which have immediate and lasting disruptive effects on youths’ physiological development as well as their physical and mental health.
• Ethnic and racial minority youth living in low- income communities are exposed to a greater number of ACEs.
• Disadvantages in socioeconomic status (SES) contribute significantly to mental health difficulties among ethnic and racial minority youth.
• Lower SES causes mental health disparities because children living in poverty are exposed to more stressors and have fewer buffers to counter that stress.
• School personnel should be trained to identify, as early as possible, children who may be exposed to such adversities.