Youth Mental Health Needs Assessment

Youth Mental Health Needs In St. Joseph County

SJC Cares aims to improve the experience of accessing formal and informal youth mental health services and supports for families in St. Joseph County. We help identify gaps in services and encourage creative collaboration between partners to address them.

One way we’ve done that is through a community-informed youth mental health needs assessment. We surveyed more than 350 parents, conducted seven focus groups with more than 60 youth ages 12-24 and surveyed members of our consortium. The results, highlighted below, will guide our strategic planning for the coming years.

Assessment Findings

Have children or youth in your care ever exhibited any of the following to a degree that concerned you?

  • Anxiousness: 50%
  • Mood swings: 45%
  • Hyperactivity: 36%
  • Irritability: 33%
  • All others: Less than 33%

Did you seek help?

  • Yes: 65%
  • No: 35%

Reasons cited for not seeking help:

  • Wanted to handle it on my own
  • Wasn’t sure the problem warranted help
  • Didn’t find what I wanted
  • Didn’t know where to start

If you did seek help, where?

  • Doctor: 52%
  • Counselor: 45%
  • School: 29%
  • Family/friend: 28%
  • Mental health center: 17%

Did you find the kind of help you were looking for?

  • No: 34%
  • Yes: 66%

Rate St. Joseph County Services:

Available & Easy to Access:

  1. Early Childhood Supports (48.5%)
  2. Parent Cafes (45.5%)
  3. ACES/Trauma Education (42.5%)

Available, but Not Easy to Access:

  1. Child Advocacy (33%)
  2. Mentoring (32%)
  3. Restorative Justice (30%) & ACES/Trauma Education (30%)

Available, but Too Little Capacity

  1. Inpatient services for ages 12-18 (52%)
  2. Residential services for ages 12-18 (48.5%)
  3. Youth Mental Health Education for Adults (45.5%)

Not Available

  1. Youth day treatment programs (21%)
  2. Inpatient for ages 12 and under (39%)
  3. Inpatient youth substance use disorder treatment (27%)

  • Youth prefer the term emotional health over mental health
  • Youth often hear peers discuss anxiety, stress, depression, happiness and excitement
  • Youth want to be listened to, but not told what to do
  • Only 15% said “Tell a trusted adult” is good advice
  • The most important factor is that someone is a good listener, regardless of their age or life status