2025 advocacy piece

18.1 % of adolescents aged 12-17 experienced a major depressive episode in 2023. In 2023, 22.8 % of adults and 33.8 % of young adults in the U.S. faced mental illness. You will read several success stories within these pages. These successes were realized by individuals who were fortunate enough to access the appropriate mental health and/or substance use treatment and supports they needed to assist them in reaching their goals of healthier and more productive lives. There are, unfortunately, so many untold stories – stories of those who are unable to access such services. They are tragically often counted among the statistics on suicides, hospitalizations, imprisonment and overdoses. A significant contributing factor to the difficulty so many have in accessing the care they need is the severe workforce crisis currently faced by the behavioral health field. The following pages will share the untold stories of the staff who are struggling to continue in this field because their own life goals and work/life balance are being negatively affected by the inadequate wages they receive for the life-saving services they provide. The Youth Mental Health Crisis Adult Mental Health and Substance Use impacts of the pandemic and social media with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reporting that 18.1% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 had a major depressive episode in 2023. While a record number of youth are being served by the New Jersey Children’s System of Care (CSOC) within the Department of Children and Families, too many in need still cannot access services. Many factors contribute to youth suicide, overdose and hospitalization – the inability to access appropriate, timely services should not be one of them. It was October of 2021 when leading experts in pediatric health declared a youth mental health crisis. In December of that year, the U.S. Surgeon General published a rare public health advisory on youth mental health that spoke of the unprecedented stressors affecting youth. The New Jersey Department of Education recently reported that nearly one in five New Jersey high school students seriously considered attempting suicide in 2019 and that 63% of students who needed mental health services did not receive them that year. Such statistics have continued to worsen with the ongoing According to SAMHSA, the national prevalence rate for adult mental illness was 22.8% in 2023. For young adults age 18 to 25, the rate was 33.8%. This translates to hundreds of thousands of young New Jerseyans and more than 1.5 million New Jersey adults overall. In 2023, 17.1% of adults had a substance use disorder (SUD), with young adults age 18 to 25 having the highest rate of SUDs at 27.1%. So many of them, adults of all ages, are suffering in silence, suffering without access to the services they need and deserve, and carrying on with no one to hear their story and offer the care they need. In these pages, we celebrate the powerful, positive effects behavioral health services have on individuals’ lives, but it is the greater number of untold stories that need attention – that need action and funding. In the following pages, the New Jersey Association of Mental Health and Addiction Agencies (NJAMHAA) is pleased to share its recommendations for what those actions should be. Nearly 20 % of NJ high school students considered suicide in 2019. 3 Untold Stories… of Those in Need and Those Who Serve Them