IMPACT AREAS
MENTAL HEALTH
Supporting children’s mental health is at the heart of everything we do. Children’s social and emotional development shapes their future well-being, and is central to maintaining positive relationships, stability, academic success, physical health, and overall happiness.
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At any given time, 1 in 5 children and adolescents have significant mental health challenges – such as depression, anxiety, and behavioral difficulties – that interfere with their daily lives.
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During the decade preceding the pandemic, rates of suicidality, self-harm, and substance use increased sharply, and mental health-related hospitalizations more than doubled. The children’s mental health crisis reached a state of emergency [cite] during the pandemic, with long-term impacts that are unknown. Despite the dramatic increase in demand for services, approximately 20% percent receive the care they need. Youth living in poverty are even less likely to get the help they need, with fewer than 5% accessing services.
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Youth at WestCoast are growing up at the intersection of poverty, intergenerational trauma, racism and discrimination, and community violence, all of which increase risk for developing mental health challenges. These stressors, and the structural inequities that produce them, disproportionately impact BIPOC children and falspensions, expulsions, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. At WestCoast our goal is to disrupt this pattern by helping youth and families get the resources they need.
Departments in Alameda County
Resources
211.org – Local and nationwide
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline – Nationwide
Trevor Project Hotline – Nationwide
FURS
Alameda County and SF County ACCESS
Mental Health at
WestCoast
WestCoast provides mental health services for youth that are experiencing a range of social, emotional, and behavioral health challenges. We meet with youth wherever they feel most comfortable - at our clinic, virtually, or in the community, such as at a park, school, or the family’s home. For young people first entering the child welfare system, our work takes place at the Alameda County Assessment Center [link]. Working with the systems that impact youth – schools, child welfare, juvenile justice — is also integral to our approach, as is connecting families to community supports. Through all of our programs we help children to heal, connect, thrive, and cope with future adversity.
TRAINING, POLICY, & RESEARCH
WestCoast is dedicated to improving the mental health field, community understanding of our children’s needs, and advocating for policy changes when our systems fall short. Informed by youth and families’ experiences, our decades of providing services, and research, our Training team [link] increases provider and caregiver capacity to support children impacted by trauma, violence, discrimination and other adversities. Using qualitative and quantitative data about children’s needs, strengths, and trauma profiles, our Research team disseminates information [link] that deepens understanding of children’s experiences and how to help. Our Policy team translates practice insights and research into action, advocating for policies and system reform that expand access to mental health services for kids and address critical services gaps.
Read our mental health research!
