When children struggle mentally and emotionally, parents do, too. And as employees, parents carry that stress into the workplace, affecting their ability to focus, collaborate, and work productively.
The ripple effect of the ongoing youth mental health crisis is costly: More than half (53%) of working parents have missed work to tend to a child’s mental health issues, and a staggering 92% of parents feel burnout from balancing work and parenting responsibilities. The lost productivity and turnover resulting from burnout costs US organizations between $4,000 and $21,000 per employee annually.
Clearly, employers have the incentive and opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the youth mental health crisis. In fact, employers have an outsize role to play in the “all-of-society effort” to improve the mental health of children, according to former US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy. Here are some ways that organizations and parents can better support their children as they navigate life’s challenges.
Understand the barriers to youth mental health support
The work starts with understanding the many barriers that families are up against when children have emotional and mental health needs. Although mental health awareness has emerged from the shadows into the mainstream, access and stigma remain significant challenges.
“Despite the fact that discussions of mental health and self-care are more prominent today than ever before, there still remains a stigma surrounding engagement with treatment, especially with respect to youth,” said child and family psychologist Alison Stoner, PhD in our webinar discussion for Mental Health Awareness Month, Early Signs Matter: Strategies for Supporting Youth Mental Health.
Barriers to youth mental health support include the following:
- Stigma for both youth and parents.
Even when children or teens know they need support, fear of judgment may keep them from asking for it or engaging with a therapist. Parents may have the same worries about what others think if their child needs support. - Severe shortage of pediatric-trained providers.
“Pediatric mental healthcare is a specialty,” said Stoner. “Youth should be seen by someone with training and evidence-based practice for the developmental age of the kiddo and their presenting concern.” Yet many regions lack clinicians trained to treat children and adolescents. - Time constraints.
With school, work, extracurricular activities, events, and family obligations, children and parents have little time for scheduling and attending therapy appointments or engaging with tools. - Low mental health literacy.
Many families struggle to understand what services are available and what type of support is appropriate for their child. “Sometimes parents can get overwhelmed,” said Stoner. “They don’t know who to talk to, and this confusion can really erode their intention to support their child.” - Fragmented care systems.
A fractured healthcare system means there’s no single place where everyone can communicate about a child’s mental health needs and support. “Delays in communication and care coordination are a barrier,” Stoner explained. For instance, referrals or recommendations can turn into dead ends when it’s unclear where that information is going.
How employers can better support mental health in families
These barriers helped Children’s Mercy Kansas City, a leading independent children’s health organization, shape its support for working parents and their families.
“In our organization, we recognize that our employees who are caregivers cannot show up fully to work if they’re drowning outside of work,” said Dr. Angela Myers, chief wellbeing officer. “And so we take a very hands-on approach in the Center for Wellbeing. We help them understand the support that exists, who to contact, how to get connected quickly, and sometimes make those warm handoffs for them. Doing this has helped us to work toward normalizing . . . seeking mental health counseling.”
Organizations can make a meaningful difference in the lives of working parents and their children by adopting a similar approach that includes these steps:
Normalizing mental health conversations
Removing stigmatizing mental health language from HR, licensure, and credentialing forms helps employees feel safe in both having needs and seeking support. Executives and leaders in the workplace also can help normalize mental health conversations by initiating them and sharing their own stories.
Providing hands‑on navigation support
Instead of leaving working parents on their own to navigate a complex system, take the time to help them understand their options and how to pursue them. “We don’t just hand people a list of resources. We walk with them,” Myers explained.
Offering multiple access points to mental health support
Employees benefit from a variety of options that help them connect to support quickly:
- An employee assistance program that’s easy to access and use
- An onsite care clinic with mental health professionals, where possible
- Evidence-based digital mental health resources, such as Calm Health
- Mindfulness and meditation tools
Responding to employee feedback
Collecting employee feedback and data through surveys, listening sessions, and one-on-one meetings can help organizations refine their mental health benefits. It’s critical to absorb that feedback and take steps in response.
“One of the things that people told us over and over again was that they didn’t like our old EAP partner or provider,” said Myers. “We heard that what we need are people who are trained to counsel people who work in healthcare. And so we sought that out. We worked with our HR colleagues to figure out a different platform that would really get to the needs better for our healthcare workers.”
Choosing high-quality digital mental health tools
Digital mental health solutions can expand access, but quality varies. Employers should look for tools that
- Are grounded in evidence‑based practice;
- Feature content developed by psychologists;
- Include mental health screenings based on industry-standard questionnaires;
- Have certifications reflecting rigorous independent assessment across clinical, technology, and user experience standards; and
- Help guide users to appropriate support beyond the app (e.g., EAPs or crisis lines) when needed.
What parents can do at home to better support their children
Navigating a child’s mental health needs can be very challenging, especially if no one in the household feels safe communicating about mental health. Dr. Stoner recommended that parents use these strategies to better support their children:
Treat behavior as communication
“Behavior is communication,” said Stoner. “It’s a signal. It can voice unmet needs, responses to situations. So be attentive as parents.”
In younger children, behavior changes such as a regression in milestones, increasing irritability, or the refusal to do things that they used to want to do are signs that something might be wrong, according to Stoner.
In older children, changes in grades, withdrawal, or not wanting to be around their peers could be signals that they’re going through some challenges. Above all, notice your child’s behavior and believe them if they’re telling you something, she added.
Normalize everyday conversations about mental and emotional health
The more we can integrate mental health conversations into our daily routines, the less awkward these discussions become. Parents can start early to incorporate discussion of mental health into family routines, so when they notice changes in behavior, it’s not the first time they’re having that conversation, Stoner explained.
She described a family ritual in which a person shares a high, a low, and something surprising from their day, helping “normalize the fact that there are natural ups and downs to every day.”
Model healthy coping
Children learn by watching adults. Naming your own emotions and demonstrating coping strategies—deep breathing, taking a pause, asking for help, for example—teaches kids how to regulate their own feelings. For example, a parent might say, “I’m feeling so angry. I’m going to use my magic breath to calm my body down.”
Create a mental health first-aid kit
Families often plan for physical emergencies but not emotional ones. A mental health first-aid kit could include these features:
- A shared understanding of what constitutes a mental health emergency
- Crisis resources such as 988
- Trusted adult(s) outside the immediate family whom children can contact
Help children navigate social media
Technology is a common stress point between parents and teens. Dr. Myers shared her personal story of having a child who consistently bypassed their family’s technology-use restrictions, leading them to unplug their router at night. Now a young adult, her son relayed that in hindsight, he was very grateful for his parents’ actions.
Here are some things that healthy digital habits include:
- Screen‑free zones (car rides, dinner, bedtime)
- Modeling boundaries by putting your phone away when asking children to do the same
- Avoiding screens for emotional soothing, especially with younger children
- Watching content together and asking kids to show you what they’re watching
The goal is consistency, connection, and awareness, not perfection.
A shared responsibility
The youth mental health crisis affects everyone, and it’s going to take everyone across all parts of society working together to make things better. To learn more about strategies for parents and employers, explore other resources from Calm:
- Early Signs Matter: Strategies for Supporting Youth Mental Health (webinar)
- Raising Resilient Teens: Your Essential Caregiver’s Toolkit
- Teen and Family Mental Health Research Report
- Parents of Teens Want More Support in the Workplace
- 9 Tips for Supporting Kids During the Back-to-School Transition
- Supporting the Mental Health of Teens Starts With Supporting Parents
