It's Time to Close the Gap
Right now, millions of kids around the world are starting their battle with mental health. They’re confused and lost, without answers or guidance. Most will be left to fend for themselves, failed by the systems that are meant to support them.
On average, they'll spend a decade suffering in silence before seeking help. Some will never make it into a doctor’s office at all.
This mental health awareness month, we’re talking about the treatment gap — those avoidable years spent suffering in silence. Because a decade is too long and our youth deserve better.
There are so many things we're never told about our mental health.
That our symptoms have names. That they're treatable. That we aren't alone.
We spend years searching for answers, wondering if anyone out there understands how we feel. Years we'll never get back. It's time to stop this cycle and save our youth from experiencing the same pain.
#NoOneToldMe calls on sufferers of every age, condition and identity to share the things they were never told about their mental health. What do you wish you knew when your symptoms first began? What knowledge could have kept you from years of unnecessary suffering?
To have your story included in our May conversation, email a selfie and No One Told Me statement to [email protected].
What is the treatment gap?
It takes an average of 10 years for a person suffering from a psychiatric disorder to seek help. Half of which start before the age of 14. But despite high prevalence rates, most cases go undetected and untreated. These years are often spent searching for answers, wondering if anyone out there understands how you feel. For many kids, they mark the beginning of a downwards spiral into self-destructive behaviors. Each year spent suffering in silence, is a year lost. The treatment gap are those dark, confusing years between symptom onset and accessing proper care.
Why is it so long?
How can we combat it?
Where can I find help?
From the Community
Huge thank you to our amazing collaborators, partners and fellow advocates including...
She Writes Woman, Latinx Therapy, Open Path Collective, Violet, Crisis Text Line, OCD Action, The Big Quiet, SheSays, This Is My Brave, Kaleidoscope, OCD Gamechangers, The OCD Stories, Unstuck, The 3% Movement, Mental Health League, Orchard OCD, Effectively Schizo, Half the Story, Tap In, The Hidden Opponent, Beyond Shame, Beyond Stigma, Trust Collective, Huddle Care, The Difference, Twenty Twenty Arts, Mind Share Partners and NOCD
Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is a non-profit nationwide network of mental health professionals dedicated to providing mental health care at a steeply reduced rate.
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No one told me I wasn't the only one
No one told me that anyone can have psychotic thoughts, even without past trauma
No one told me that my sexual identity would affect the quality of care I receive
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We’re on a mission to change how the world perceives mental health.