Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. (https://www.samhsa.gov/mental-health)

In the fall of 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics along with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children's Hospital Association declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health. They called for increased funding for mental health resources, as well as other actions, including more integration of mental health care into schools and primary care, more community-based systems to connect people to mental health programs, strategies to increase the number of mental health providers, and ensuring that there is insurance coverage of mental health care. (https://www.nami.org/Get-Involved/Awareness-Events/Mental-Health-Awareness-Month) Pay attention and take what you see seriously. If your child is showing signs of anxiety or depression, call your doctor. Don't put it off. If your child talks about harming themself or others, get help immediately, such as by going to your local emergency room. In this situation, it's better to overreact than underreact. (https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-mental-health-crisis-among-children-and-teens-how-parents-can-help-202203082700)

NATIONAL TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION MONTH

While there have been advances in reducing teen pregnancy, progress is still needed to close racial/ethnic and geographic disparities in teen birth rates in the United States. Although the teen birth rate is at a historic low, the United States has one of the highest rates in the industrialized world, with birth rates higher among American Indian/Alaska Natives and non-Hispanic blacks than among their non-Hispanic white counterparts.1

Prevention is important because teen pregnancy and childbearing bring substantial social and economic costs through immediate and long-term impacts on teen parents and their children. For example, teen childbearing in the United States cost taxpayers (federal, state, and local) at least $9.4 billion in 2010 due to increased health care and foster care, and lost tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers.2 Additionally, pregnancy and birth are significant contributors to high school dropout rates among girls. Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age, whereas approximately 90% of women who do not give birth during adolescence graduate from high school.

(https://npin.cdc.gov/pages/national-teen-pregnancy-prevention-month)