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Mental health in childhood means reaching developmental and emotional milestones, learning healthy social skills, and how to cope when there are problems or stress. Subtopics included are:

Mental Health in Children and Youth

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 [1013]) 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 for Patients & Families in Utah (UT)

Service Categories	UT	NW		ID	MT	NM	NV
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)	43		7	28	21	5	23
Autism Programs	54		6	3	23	7	1
General Counseling Services	381	1	200	147	41	207	32
Mental Health Evaluation/Assessment	154		32	14	17	14	11
Mental Health/Counseling	1013	46	487	300	122	799	246
Psychiatry/Medication Management	62		20	19		52	78

For services not listed above, browse our Services categories or search our database.

* number of provider listings may vary by how states categorize services, whether providers are listed by organization or individual, how services are organized in the state, and other factors; Nationwide (NW) providers are generally limited to web-based services, provider locator services, and organizations that serve children from across the nation.

Authors & Reviewers

Initial publication: October 2014; last update/revision: August 2019

Current Authors and Reviewers:

Author:	Gina Pola-Money
Reviewer:	Mindy Tueller, MS, MCHES