Changing Minds speaker talks kids’ mental health
“A child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support.” – Kate Middleton
During her nearly 20 years as an elementary school teacher, Sally McDaniel, LMHC, LMFT, SUDP, CMHS, saw behavioral health issues affect many of her young students.
“I would tend to get kids who were struggling mostly behaviorally,” she remembers. “They would come to my classroom — we’d work together to build skills, and I’d link them to resources. But I felt something bigger was out there, and I was drawn to community mental health to bring this work to others.”
Called to make a difference on a larger scale, Sally found herself at donor-supported Greater Lakes Mental Healthcare. For eight years, she’s served as a clinical manager in Child & Family Services, where she oversees a department of therapists and interns.
Sally McDaniel, LMHC, LMFT, SUDP, CMHS, is clinical manager, Child & Family Services at Greater Lakes Mental Healthcare.
Part of her work includes partnering with local districts to place counselors inside schools, providing therapy to students who wouldn’t receive services otherwise.
COVID-19 pandemic’s psychological fallout
From her vantage point as a clinical manager, Sally has witnessed the COVID-19 pandemic change the lives of little ones and youth in Pierce County.
“COVID-19 has had a huge impact on our youth,” she explains. “We’ve seen an increase in generalized anxiety, social anxiety, depression, suicide ideation (or thoughts) and suicide attempts. There’s also a regression of life skills. Some kids who went through this pandemic in elementary school are now in middle school and missed those elementary school years. Same with middle school — some went on to high school, and they’re still acting like middle schoolers. There have been real social deficits and regression.”
This reality has also been realized nationally. In December 2021, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a public advisory on the youth mental health crisis intensified by COVID-19.
But as Sally and others across the MultiCare Behavioral Health Network share in the upcoming MultiCare Changing Minds virtual event, there is hope thanks to donor-powered behavioral health programs and services.
During MultiCare Behavioral Health Foundation’s program at noon on May 4, 2022, viewers will hear from Ben Danielson, MD, a pediatrician and clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Danielson’s focus is promoting well-being and dignity, especially for marginalized communities. Greater Lakes, Navos and MultiCare Behavioral Health staff will also speak to how the Network has met the youth mental health crisis head-on. Additionally, attendees will meet special guest Allison, who will share how a MultiCare Behavioral Health program brought out the best in her 7-year-old son Ryker.
With community generosity, critical mental health services will become more accessible to vulnerable children, youth and their families.
“It’s really important to support behavioral health services because sometimes it’s the only way youth will get help,” Sally says. “If we aren’t in schools, if we aren’t in the community and if we aren’t able to partner, then these kids’ mental health symptoms will continue to increase in severity. Sometimes, we are their lifeline.”
As a former Greater Lakes client corroborates: “Those (therapy) sessions saved my life and truly have stuck with me to this day. Thank you for everything.”
Donors are essential partners in sustaining and expanding mental health programs for children and youth in our region. You can support treatment and care that leads to recovery by making a gift at MultiCare Changing Minds.
