May 5 is Child Mental Health Day

We pause today during Mental Health Month to give a big high five to Step Up teams providing support services specifically designed for transitional aged youth (TAY)! According to the 2015 Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority report, Los Angeles County is home to nearly 4000 unaccompanied homeless youth ages 24 and under each year. Many of these young adults are escaping abusive homes, emancipating from the foster care and juvenile justice system, or were raised on the street with their parents, trapped in the cycle of homelessness.  A 2012 study conducted by the National Alliance to End Homelessness revealed that 1 in 11 youth emancipated from the foster care system will experience homelessness, as compared to 1 in 194 for the general population.

Although most of these young adults are eligible for supportive services, they are all too often denied access to these services due to behavioral issues resulting from unaddressed trauma and untreated mental health disorders. The human and fiscal cost of this dramatic ineffectiveness is born on the back of the individuals, their families, and the community. It doesn’t have to be this way. Click here to learn about the recovery services of Daniel’s Place, a program of Step Up specifically designed to address the needs of transitional aged youth. “A diagnosis is not a destiny!”