Mental Health Treatment - Children in Alaska

Alaska

Mental health is an important component of overall health. Mental health disorders among children can impact the way children learn and handle their emotions. Disorders that can be diagnosed during childhood and adolescence include attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and others. Early diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions among children is vital to ensuring they don’t have problems at home, in school or forming friendships.

Childhood mental health disorders can be treated and managed. Treatment works best when parents and doctors work closely with teachers, coaches, therapists and anyone involved in the child’s life. According to CDC data from 2021-2023, more than half (55%) of adolescents reported discussing their mental and emotional health with a health care professional, 20% reported receiving mental health therapy and 20% reported having mental health needs that remain unmet.

Many adolescents live in areas where access to mental health treatment is not available due to a mental health professional shortage. Over 70% of counties in the US do not have child or adolescent psychiatrists. Additionally, few states have the recommended ratio of school psychologists to students, leaving gaps in mental health treatment.

According to America’s Health Rankings analysis, the prevalence of mental health treatment is higher among:

• Girls compared with boys.
• Children with a caregiver who graduated from college compared with a caregiver who graduated from high school.

The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends universal, targeted, group and/or individual school-based cognitive behavioral therapy programs to help prevent and reduce anxiety and depression among school-aged youth. Trained school staff (mental health professionals, nurses or teachers) or external mental health professionals (psychologists or social workers) can facilitate programs to help students develop problem-solving strategies, regulate their emotions and establish healthy coping behaviors.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a list of resource locators to help caregivers find the right mental health services for their children, as well as an action guide for school administrators with strategies to support mental health in schools.

Healthy People 2030 has multiple objectives related to treating mental health conditions among children, including:

• Increasing the proportion of children and adolescents who get appropriate treatment for anxiety or depression.
• Increasing the proportion of children and adolescents who get preventive mental health care in school. 
• Increasing the proportion of adolescents with depression who get treatment.
• Increasing the proportion of children and adolescents with ADHD who get appropriate treatment.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Schools: An Action Guide for School and District Leaders. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Adolescent and School Health, December 2023. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/136371.

Hill, Emma K., Laura Bond, John R. Weisz, and Vikram Patel. “Addressing the Adolescent Mental Health-Care Gap in the United States.” Journal of Adolescent Health 77, no. 6 (December 2025): 1014–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2025.08.007.