Join Our Efforts to Improve Our Children’s Mental Health
Illinois’s children and families are facing a mental health crisis, one that has been building for years and has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis forced the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership (ICMHP) to act. We are pleased to announce the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Plan 2022-2027, developed through a systematic, comprehensive, interdisciplinary process to create new recommendations, goals, and strategies to ensure that Illinois continues to prioritize mental health and wellness.
1 in 6 U.S. children aged 2-8 years (17.4%) had a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for Illinois youth (ages 1-17) and young adults (ages 18-24).
56% of Illinois youth with major depression do not receive services.
Over 5,700 kids start vaping everyday.
In order to improve the mental health and wellness for children, families, and communities across Illinois, it was important for the Plan to start with a set of values. These values were then echoed repeatedly throughout the development process, becoming overarching themes for the recommended goals and action steps. It is clear that these values must be at the center of every decision, program, and policy aimed at improving child and family mental health.
The fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement of all people, while also striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have excluded individuals;
Diverse representation across race, ethnicity, gender, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and socio-economic status;
All voices must not only be represented but actively included in the process — in particular, the youth, families, and communities with lived experience;
Mental health for all, including children and families, should not be viewed as separate from our overall health and well-being. We must all recognize it is part of our everyday actions and lives; and
An acknowledgement that mental health and wellness as a component of overall health is relevant in all statewide policy decisions, including economic development, housing, food insecurity, transportation, and more.
Awareness, Acceptance, and Supports
Coordination, Needs Assessment, and Innovation
Centralized Hub
Child-Serving Workforce
Systems of Care
In 2003, the Children’s Mental Health Act was passed, creating the ICMHP. We are a statewide public/private partnership consisting of each child-serving state agency, 25 experts representing a broad range of experiences, such as community mental health, children and family advocates, early childhood, education, health, substance abuse, violence prevention, and juvenile justice
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