Morning. In today’s opinions newsletter : The state of mental health, Arizona’s new House speaker and an attack on free speech.
The kids are not all right.
According to national data compiled by Mental Health America, Arizona ranks 35th among states and Washington, D.C., based on its rate of mental illness and access to care for adults.
But it ranks a dismal 50th for youth . Arizona not only has higher rates of mental illness and substance abuse than many other states, but its percentages of young people getting help for these problems also are lower.
Adults fare better not because they have better access to care in Arizona, but because they have lower rates of mental illness or substance abuse than adults in other states.
This is a major problem.
Arizona is short thousands of mental health care professionals. And, as a clinical social worker explains this morning, the problem is only getting worse.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona has a serious mental health care worker shortage