This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

May 5 is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day. As a mother whose daughter was diagnosed with depression at age 12, I would like to share some things that I have learned about children's mental health that will hopefully help someone else.

Approximately 20 percent of youth ages 13 to 18 experience severe mental disorders in a given year. For ages 8 to 15, the estimate is 13 percent.

Seventy percent of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health condition, and at least 20 percent live with a severe mental illness.

One-half of all chronic mental illness begins by the age of 14; three-quarters by age 24. Despite effective treatment, there are long delays — sometimes decades — between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.

In Utah, suicide is the leading cause of death in youth ages 10-19.

The Utah Family Coalition recently asked families about their experiences in accessing mental health services and treatment. When asked, "At what age did you begin to notice problems?" 42.8 percent of parents responding said they identified problems when their children were 4 years old or younger. Forty-three percent experienced difficulty getting the appropriate services for their child.

We know two things: 1) Children develop mental illness at an alarmingly high rate, and 2) the sooner a child receives treatment for mental illness, the better chance of a positive outcome. Unfortunately, we also know a third thing: There are some very large barriers to getting appropriate mental health treatment for children and adolescents. Some barriers are easily remedied, but others are more challenging.

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, in 2015 Utah had a total of 56 practicing Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists (CAPs) for 905,549 children. Cache and Kane counties each had one CAP, Washington County had two, Weber and Davis counties had three, Summit County had four, Utah County had six and Salt Lake County had 36. That left 21 Utah counties with zero child and adolescent psychiatrists. Why should this concern us? Because childhood mental illnesses can be very complex — so much so that it requires an extra two years of training to become a child and adolescent psychiatrist. The fewer CAPs in Utah, the harder it is to get expert treatment for your child.

I recently talked with a mom in southern Utah whose 13-year-old child had been diagnosed with schizophrenia — one of the most serious childhood mental illnesses. "Where do I need to go to get help?" she asked.

"Truthfully?" I responded. "Your best chance is Salt Lake County."

"Then I will talk to my church to see if they can help us move there."

Not all parents have the ability to move to where their children can receive services. But all parents can educate themselves on the signs of mental illness and how to advocate for their children. This month is a good time to start.

Wendy Fayles is a family and consumer mentor for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Utah.