For parents especially it will come as no surprise that kids in New Jersey and across the country are in the midst of a mental health crisis. They’re struggling with unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression, according to the latest Kids Count report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
In New Jersey, that translates to nearly 168,000 children — or more than 10.5% suffering from those mental health issues in 2020, up from about 130,000 just four years prior.
In an interview with NJ Spotlight News, Meredith Blount, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of New Jersey, said, “In New Jersey, this last budget did have some very great initiatives … that will help, including money for more child and psychiatrists in the state. We in New Jersey have a severe shortage. We have 341 child and adolescent psychiatrists for the entire state. While that’s bad, you think about some of our more rural counties — like Warren, Salem and Cumberland — that have zero, no child psychiatrists.” And, Blount added, “We need more support in our schools; we need more psychiatrists in the buildings; we need more counselors; we need more social workers.”
