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CCRB presents assessment showing broad reach and rising youth mental‑health risks in St. Charles County
Summary
The Community and Children's Resource Board told the County Council its 2023 needs assessment finds wide program reach but rising self‑harm and suicide indicators among county youth, and urged council members to help convene stakeholders.
Melinda McElhinney, executive director of the Community and Children's Resource Board of Saint Charles County, told the County Council on June 9 that CCRB-funded programs served every ZIP code in the county in 2023 and reached an estimated 100,000 youth, 5,000 parents and 2,500 professionals.
"This year, we're investing up to 15 and a half million dollars in 69 programs at 38 different agencies," McElhinney said, describing CCRB's funding mechanism as an eighth‑of‑a‑cent sales tax created by county voters in 2004 to pay for children's mental‑health and substance‑use services.
McElhinney said the CCRB's new 2023 community needs assessment found multiple strengths — lower rates of substantiated child abuse and neglect, lower infant mortality and a 94 percent high‑school graduation rate — but also several emerging concerns. "Youth self‑injury rose from 11 percent in 2012 to 21.5 percent in 2022," she said, and she cited increases in youth suicide indicators and in the intensity of symptoms providers are seeing.
The report, McElhinney said, includes four versions ranging from an executive summary to in‑depth data tables; she encouraged council members to share the assessment with staff and constituents and to join CCRB in convening community stakeholders around the issues highlighted.
McElhinney described program categories the board funds — prevention, crisis stabilization, early intervention and treatment — and summarized county reach figures: "81 percent of school‑age kids in the county received at least one prevention service funded by CCRB," and "12.5 percent of youth were served through a CCRB funded direct service." She also flagged provider concerns about staff turnover and burnout, and noted that more intense symptoms can mean longer treatment and greater staffing demands.
Council members thanked McElhinney for the presentation; no formal council action on CCRB funding took place at the June 9 meeting.
CCRB materials and four versions of the needs assessment are available on the CCRB website for council members and the public to review.
