Most mental health challenges begin in childhood, the teen years, or young adulthood. It's a burden young people and their families don't have to face alone, yet too often, they do.

"One in five young people under age 18 has a serious mental health issue at any one time," says Steve Adelsheim, MD, director of the Stanford Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing and clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. "But 80% of those who need care don't access care."

Stanford and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital are responding to this mental health crisis with a continuum of innovative, research-backed services—including programs aimed at prevention, early intervention, and reducing the stigma and access issues around mental health.

“Our young people know what they need. They know what their challenges are, and have a great deal of wisdom about how to build connections with other young people and how to create spaces that young people will want to use.” 

How might we co-create a more accepting culture and de-stigmatize mental health concerns for youth? In today’s environment, mental health is so important, and intervention starts early. Researchers and practitioners like Dr. Steven Adelsheim, clinical professor and associate chair for community engagement, believe that involving youth in the process of creating interventions is so key to be successful. Allcove is a space for youth to find community, support, advice or even just a moment of pause.

In this conversation, Dr. Adelsheim and Youth Advisory Group member, Emily Wang, discuss some of the mental health concerns for youth today and how schools are addressing mental health, the current state of allcove, as well as some of the reasoning behind why it was created.