the OLO report released June 17<\/a>, \u201ctoday\u2019s youth are facing a mental\/behavioral health crisis.\u201d Maryland ranked sixth in the nation in 2021 for providing suitable access to mental health care for adults, but 31st when it comes to the prevalence of mental illness and the access to care for youths.<\/p>\nThe report also found data that showed Maryland\u2019s behavioral health workforce would need an additional 32,800 professionals statewide by 2028, in order to meet the current level of demand for services.<\/p>\n
Montgomery County Council President Kate Stewart referred to the report and the county\u2019s ongoing efforts to address the issue, when she told reporters Monday that county officials are hearing from providers about the increased needs of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are seeing more in their work, particularly among the Latino community and our immigrant community,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n
County Council member Gabe Albornoz, who chairs the council\u2019s Health and Human Services Committee, agreed with Stewart\u2019s assessment. He said that young people report more anxiety in general, but \u201cespecially children of immigrants \u2014 our newly-arriving children \u2014 who are experiencing the anxiousness with the rhetoric and the toxic atmosphere that we are in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many young people access mental health care and counseling through school, but when summer\u2019s out, Albornoz said the county\u2019s other departments work to provide helpful programming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Recreation Department continues to take a really important role and lead in helping to coordinate programs and services, particularly through the recreation centers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Adriane Clutter, the acting director of the Recreation Department, said there are a variety of programs designed to help young people, especially teenagers, who could use mental health support. One of those, she said, is something called \u201cVibe Check.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it gives teens the opportunity to do some peer-to-peer support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It also trains them in \u201cmental health first aid\u201d that allows them \u201cto talk about some of the challenges they face. And it\u2019s been really popular, really well-received among teens,\u201d Clutter added.<\/p>\n
The OLO will generate more reports on youth mental health issues. The next report will focus on the availability of behavioral health care and services that are available to young people through Montgomery County Public Schools.<\/p>\n
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u00a9 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A recent report from the Montgomery County Office of Legislative Oversight finds an increasing need for access to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[210,12815,517,12816,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-12098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-kate-ryan","10":"tag-mental-health","11":"tag-montgomery-county-office-of-legislative-oversight","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114741164416970546","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}