What does the “new normal” look like for children and their mental health?
#OnMyMind Artwork // Photo courtesy of UNICEF
What’s on your mind right now? This question has grown ever more important since the pandemic started to negatively impact everyone’s mental health in March 2020. One of the most vulnerable groups impacted, however, were children. Almost for the first year of the pandemic, more than 168 million children could not attend school, according to official estimates. During this time, school closures prevented many children from playing with friends, laughing, and engaging in other social activities. As we enter the third year of the pandemic, countless children continue to struggle with psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and sadness. Furthermore, mental health risk factors such as uncertainty, social isolation, and economic stability continue to jeopardize the mental well-being of millions of children every day.
A recent UNICEF report found that an estimated 13% of adolescents aged 10-19 live with a diagnosed mental disorder, totaling more than 166 million adolescents. For each child afflicted with mental suffering, his or her potential to live a fully-actualized life dwindles, highlighting the importance of addressing mental health as we continue living in the Decade of Action. As we move into the new year, contemporary conversations on the “new normal” continue to pervade global discussions among governments, corporations, and nonprofits. The prevalence of mental health challenges among children begs the question: what actors can take additional action during the transition to the “new normal” to promote healthy mental health practices among children?
Governments can be doing more to support the mental health of children through expenditures and policy. Some UNICEF estimates have found that government expenditures on mental health only represent 2.1% of the median government health expenditures. This imbalance is even greater in developing countries. In some of the world’s poorest nations, less than $1 is spent per capita on mental health. This lack of investment spills over into less money being directed to sectors including primary care, education, and social services, including suicide prevention services. While losing children’s lives each year as a result of mental health struggles should be enough to warrant government action, the London School of Economics found that mental disorders that cause disabilities or death among young people cost governments nearly $390 billion annually. As we enter the new year, governments should increase expenditures to mental health specifically, and engage in public awareness campaigns to reduce the stigma around mental health. The more action the government takes, the less human suffering that occurs.
As schools begin to open, it is important to emphasize that educational institutions should take a larger role in supporting the mental well-being of students. At the heart of education systems is to support the academic and social development of students. Schools can do so by offering additional collaborative activities inside and outside the classroom. Teachers now have an even greater imperative to take notice of warning signs of child behavior that may signal harmful mental health and to intervene in a welcoming manner. However, access to early childhood education remains a challenge in many countries. Indeed, for some 77 million children who still cannot attend school due to closures, children may become involved in community-based programming that reduces social isolation.
Parents must act against the stigma surrounding mental health and work towards promoting mental health practices with their children. Fulfilling these additional obligations post-pandemic, parents need new information, guidance, and financial support programs related to creating sustainable mental health practices for children. Parents can begin by starting conversations with their children based on their age group using resources like UNICEF’s OnMyMind campaign. Parents should understand the warning signs of poor mental health to address the development early on by speaking with health professionals. In addition, self-care extends to the individual promoting the mental health of another individual. To do so, it is essential parents themselves address their mental health since the burnout of the parent would only place the child’s mental health in a potentially worse state than it presently is.
Each day, children continue to lose sight of their life-affirming futures due to addressable mental health struggles. This piece is a call for governments, civil society, schools, and parents to work together to implement solutions to support the mental development of children. All governments should work to open schools according to plans like UNICEF’s “Framework for Opening Schools” to support not only children’s academic futures but their mental health development. Finally, we as children’s rights supporters can exercise our voice through advocacy. By supporting legislative efforts like the Mental Health in International Development and Humanitarian Settings (MINDS) Act in its mission to fight for mental health protection abroad, more governments would be able to support the mental well-being of children globally.
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