One of the most pressing problems in the country is access to mental health care services, especially for children and young people. Hundreds of thousands of minors have been reported suffering from one or more conditions related to mental health, therefore their care is a priority. The problem of mental health goes hand in hand with social and educational problems. As never before and after the pandemic, children and young people suffer from learning problems, isolation, bullying, among others.
In California, where nearly a third of adolescents are reporting symptoms that qualify as serious psychological distress, the recently-introduced Assembly Bill 665 aims to counter this imbalance by providing all teens and tweens in the state with equitable access to mental health care. AB 665, authored by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo and co-sponsored by the National Center for Youth Law, was developed in partnership with young people, whose voices are at its core.
“AB 665, put simply, would align standards of mental health care consent in California for all youth ages 12 and older. Currently, young people 12 and older who receive health care through private health insurance plans are able to consent to outpatient mental health care on their own behalf when considered mature enough to participate in the care,” says Rachel Velcoff Hults, Director of Health at the National Center for Youth Law.
“Young people are telling us they need this access. Depression rates among teens have gone from 28 percent in 2011 to 42 percent in 2021, according to a recent CDC report. That same report recommends increasing access to needed services as an action to improve adolescent health and well-being,” adds Velcoff Hults.
This initiative is in the third reading in the state senate at the end of the month.
“Removing barriers to mental health access for young people who are Medi-Cal recipients and destigmatizing mental health are equally important. Across all communities but in particular our Latino community, we are shifting the stigma related to mental health,” said Assemblywoman Carrillo, in recent months during the presentation of the initiative. “In California, four in ten children receive Medi-Cal, for communities of color, 61% of African American children, 59% of Latino children, and 38% of Native and Indigenous children are Medi-Cal recipients.”
State Assembly Republicans oppose the measure.
“AB 665 allows minors 12 and older to consent to their own mental health treatment or place themselves into an outpatient residential shelter without parents’ consent or notification if the professional, after consulting the minor, feels the involvement would be inappropriate,” they said in a release.
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