CPSTF-Recommended Programs Help Improve Children’s Mental Health

The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF)  recently released their 2021 Annual Report to Congress which features a spotlight on children’s mental health and highlights CPSTF recommendations for school-based cognitive behavioral therapy programs that can help improve children’s access to mental health services. CPSTF recommends universal and targeted school-based cognitive behavioral therapy programs as effective ways to prevent or reduce anxiety and depression symptoms among children and adolescents. Decision-makers can use the CPSTF recommendations to inform their efforts to prevent or reduce anxiety and depression and promote well-being among children and adolescents.

What does this mean for schools? In partnership with communities, schools provide the opportunity to offer a seamless continuum of support to a large population of students with and without mental health difficulties. The universal and targeted school-based cognitive behavioral therapy programs can help students develop strategies to solve problems, regulate emotions, and establish helpful patterns of thought and behavior, which can lead to improved mental health and well-being among children and adolescents.

For More Information:

• CPSTF 2021 Annual Report to Congress
• CPSTF Recommendations and Findings for Mental Health
• CDC, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Children’s Mental Health
• CDC, Division of Population Health, Healthy Schools Branch