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Mental Health

Mental health in childhood means reaching developmental and emotional milestones, learning healthy social skills, and how to cope when there are problems or stress. All children go through changes in their behavior and mood, such as anger and sadness, as they grow. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) describes mental health disorders as serious changes in the way children and youth usually learn, behave, or handle their feelings.
A mental health disorder, also known as emotional or behavioral health disorder, is a medical condition that disrupts a child’s coping, thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning. Mental health concerns should be talked about, and a mental health diagnosis needs to be treated and followed just as one would do for a seizure disorder or other physical health condition.
Mental health disorders are much harder to notice than other health concerns. Parents find themselves trying to figure out what is “normal” and what isn’t in their child’s behavior. Parents then have to figure out what to do and where to go first.
This section of the Medical Home Portal has information to help you learn more about mental health disorders, as well as the therapies, providers, services, and resources that can be useful. Please also see our

Mental Health/Counseling > … (see UT providers [1186])

page for a list of mental and behavioral service categories, and once on that page, you can narrow your search by city or using the Search within this Category field.

Resources

Information & Support

For Parents and Patients

Support

Medicaid System of Care, Mental Health, Utah
A Field Guide on Case Management for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances and their Families outlines Utah's Medicaid services for children with serious emotional disturbances. For service providers, search Utah Medicaid website for System of Care by county. Department of Human Services, Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.

Medicaid Mental Health Benefits Utah
Mental health benefits are provided for most Medicaid members through Prepaid Mental Health Plans (PMHP). An overview of mental health services covered by Medicaid can be found in this July 2016 Medicaid Member Guide under Mental Health. Division of Medicaid and Health Financing, Utah.

Services in Utah

Select services for a different state: ID, MT, NM, NV, RI

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) (see UT providers [24])

Autism Clinics

Autism Clinics (see UT providers [41])

General Counseling Services

General Counseling Services (see UT providers [560])

Mental Health Evaluation/Assessment

Mental Health Evaluation/Assessment (see UT providers [156])

Mental Health/Counseling

Mental Health/Counseling > … (see UT providers [1186])

Psychiatry/Medication Management

Psychiatry/Medication Management (see UT providers [54])

For other services related to this condition, browse our Services categories or search our database.

Authors & Reviewers

Initial publication: November 2014; last update/revision: August 2019
Current Authors and Reviewers:
Author: Gina Pola-Money
Reviewer: Mindy Tueller, MS