Problems with access to adolescent mental health care can lead to dealings with the criminal justice system

Factors Associated with Mental Health Services Use among Disconnected African-American Young Adult Population

“…41 Specific to adolescents, previous research has also highlighted several environmental factors associated with increased risk of adolescents ending up with the criminal justice system, including physical and sexual abuse, drug and alcohol use, and exposure to criminal activities and violent behavior. 6,16,40 However, post hoc analyses conducted for this study failed to find any interaction between age and other variables found to be associated with increased use of mental health services in correctional facilities among adolescents, such as violent behavior and use of drugs in the last 30 days.…”

“…39 The high rate of mental illness among adolescents in juvenile detention centers have led researchers to conclude that the absence of appropriate mental health services for adolescents in school and community settings result in an increased number of adolescents entering the criminal justice system. 40 Another possible explanation for the prevalence of mental health service use in correctional facilities relates to the misdiagnosis of severe mental health disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder which frequently appear for the first time during adolescence and young adulthood. These more severe mental health issues can manifest as psychotic and disorganized symptoms, which may be misunderstood as inappropriate and violent behavior that lead to contact with the criminal justice system.…”

Transforming child and youth mental health care: ACCESS Open Minds New Brunswick in the rural Francophone region of the Acadian Peninsula

“…Youths' accounts in the Acadian Peninsula suggest that stigma, confidentiality and the delay of some referrals are important factors hindering the early identification of MH issues. This supports previous perspectives on youth MH (Kutcher & McDougall, ). It is also noteworthy that youth in this region did not identify family members as sources of support in times of crisis or for help with other matters regarding MH.…”

Les services en santé mentale pour les jeunes francophones de la région d’Ottawa

“…Quant à l'ampleur de la problématique de santé mentale chez les enfants et les adolescentes ou adolescents canadiens, les études indiquent que de 15 à 21 % d'entre eux souffrent de troubles de santé mentale qui causent d'importants symptômes ou des difficultés de fonctionnement (Waddell, et collab., 2007;Kutcher et McDougall, 2009; ministère des Services à l'enfance et à la jeunesse de l'Ontario (MSJE), 2010).…”