When Katie Brennan was first introduced to The Child Center of NY, it was a challenging moment in her life...

Just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month, CNN reported last weekend on an alarming rise in children hospitalized with suicidal thoughts or actions. To those of us in the mental health field, the news was troubling and disheartening, but not surprising. At The Child Center of NY, which has been providing mental health services to children and families for more than 60 years, we’ve seen the increase firsthand across our clinics and other behavioral health programs.

When a child spends his adolescence in the criminal justice system, his time behind bars might stay off his permanent record, but the experience never gets fully erased from his psyche. “Adolescents who’ve been in the criminal justice system mostly talk about the trauma and abuse they experienced there,” says Miosotte Caban, a therapist at The Child Center of NY’s Jamaica Family Center. “Some say they will be traumatized for life and may not live what society calls a normal l