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New 'Youth Behavioral Health Initiative' provides mental health resources for kids

The organization conducted a survey in Boise, 44% of high school students show moderate to severe depression and at the middle school level it is 30%.

BOISE, Idaho — Mental health, specifically in Idaho's youth, is a top priority for Communities for Youth, a local organization that helps parents and their children address and provide resources for mental health.

The organization was looking for a way to get ahead of the problem and started the "Boise Youth Behavioral Health Initiative."

"Across the nation, and across the state of Idaho youth mental health rates for depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation and completion have all been consistently high and getting higher over time," Megan Smith the founding director for Communities for Youth said.  

The organization conducted a survey in Boise to see what the young people are experiencing when it comes to mental health.

"We had 44% of high school students showing moderate to severe depression," Smith said. "At the middle school level, it's 30% and those are both higher than what we see at the national average."

With these numbers, Communities for Youth decided they had to do something about it. That is where the idea for the "Youth Behavioral Health Initiative" started, getting support from St. Luke's hospital and the city of Boise.

"Mental health is not any one entity's responsibility, it really takes government, faith leaders, school officials and medical practitioners,” Kate Nelson, the community partnership director for the city of Boise, said. “It is our shared and collective responsibility to take care of our youth, particularly their health and wellbeing."

The concept of the initiative is getting as many people as possible involved to find ways to reduce poor mental health.

The nonprofit found there are two big factors that contribute to some of these mental health issues, stress and social isolation.

"The good news about those as they're both changeable, right, it's not things that are not in the space that we can't use,” said Smith. “So that's really great."

The organization said they acknowledge there is a lot of great resources and skilled mental health professionals working on this problem, but the purpose of this initiative is to take preventative actions and the first step is starting a conversation.

"This approach invites them in and says you don't need to be a mental health care expert or professional, you just need to come in converse with us,” Smith said. “Together all of us have different pieces and when we put them together, we can change mental health in the state of Idaho and in the city of Boise."

The goal is to have a better picture of the problem to help find solutions.

"We only have one snapshot of data. So, we only have last November at this moment, the goal is to do it once a year, every year,” Smith said. “That will take our parents and our community members really stepping on board to help us get that done."

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