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Navigating Mental Health Treatment for Black Youth

Statement of Problem

Recent research has shown significant increases in suicide deaths among Black youth and suicide attempts among Black high school students. However, Black youth are less likely to be referred to mental health treatment even when they are at risk for suicidal behaviors.

Barriers to receiving mental health services include mental health stigma, perception of treatment effectiveness, lack of cultural competence of providers and insurance limitations—to name a few. Importantly, there is a shortage of suicide prevention interventions tested for Black youth and families. 

Description

Next Steps

We hope the results of this project can contribute important new knowledge on barriers faced by Black youth and their caregivers while initiating mental health treatment and examine if a culturally informed intervention will increase mental health treatment initiation. We see this as one strategy to address the growing mental health disparities for Black youth. 

This project page was last updated in December 2023.

Suggested Citation

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, PolicyLab. Navigating Mental Health Treatment for Black Youth [Online]. Available at: http://www.policylab.chop.edu. [Accessed: plug in date accessed here]. 

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