As the number of juveniles in need of mental health services continues to increase, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind teens and their loved ones that the Sheriff’s Office’s Community Resource Center (CRC) stands ready to help connect them to the services they need to thrive. Launched in 2020 as a free service to the public, the CRC is staffed by a team of clinicians, social workers, and caseworkers who curate a database of mental health, medical, and social service agencies across the county, enabling them to directly link individuals in need with the organizations that can best help them. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the sobering reality is that the national mental health crisis is growing, particularly among young people. In December, the U.S. Surgeon General warned of a “devastating” mental health crisis among teens in the U.S. Indeed, recent studies with teens have shown that even prior to the pandemic:

• The percentage of adolescents reporting major depressive episodes increased to 60 percent from 2007 to 2018. (National Survey of Children’s Health – NSCH)

• Suicide rates of people between ages 10 and 24 increased nearly 60 percent from 2007 to 2018, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

• In 2018-2019, 13.2 percent of youths ages 3 to 17 years – just over 8 million – had a current, diagnosed mental or behavioral health condition (NSCH)

Anyone in need of help are encouraged to contact the CRC by phone at (773) 405-5116, by email at ccso.resourcecenter@ccsheriff.org, or by visiting the Office’s Web site at www.cookcountysheriff.org.