Children’s Mental Health Service Gaps in Minnesota

As the literature states, the Children’s Mental Health system in the United States is in need of an overhaul in regards to the policies, services, and implementation methods. Not only are urban and rural areas experiencing the same problems when it comes to accessing mental health services for children, rural areas also have other barriers that they experience when seeking services. The purpose of this research was to gain insight on the gaps and missing services within the Children’s Mental Health system, more specifically in rural communities within Minnesota, and how the state can go about implementing these needed resources in the identified locations across the state. Twenty-one articles were included in the systematic review to collect the data for this study. A thematic analysis was completed after reviewing the articles, in an effort to examine the gaps and missing services in the Children’s Mental Health system in rural Minnesota. This analysis also gathered information regarding the services that are available and missing across the country as a whole. The three themes that were identified were services utilized, services lacking, and barriers to services. Findings strongly suggest the need for more mental health services that are easily accessible for families utilizing the services, redistributing monies allocated for mental health services, and increasing awareness around mental health and mental illness in all communities