The youngest Ohioans are in need of mental health care, studies show, and barriers to care extend to most counties in the state, along with public and private insurance holders alike.
Legislators passed Ohio House Bill 7 in 2025, requiring the Ohio Department of Medicaid to begin recognizing mental health needs and services for infants and young children.
The bill also required reimbursement for mental health and family therapy services for that age group.
That may add needed help to a field of service that experts say struggles to keep up provider numbers, access, and data, despite the importance of the services for younger Ohioans.
“Children’s mental health is foundational to health development because it affects how kids learn, build relationships, regulate emotions/behavior, and respond to stress,” according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio.
If those needs go untreated or undiagnosed, they can interrupt school attendance, impact family stability and peer relationships, and increase the risk of “crisis-level needs” later in life, the alliance told the Capital Journal.
Data from the Ohio Department of Health showed 250 deaths by suicide in 2023 for Ohioans aged 10 to 24.
Between 2020 and 2023, the state saw 96 suicide deaths in Ohioans between ages 10 to 14, and 927 deaths by suicide for individuals between the ages of 15 and 24.
Data provided by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio showed more than 5,600 children in Ohio went to an emergency department for a suspected suicide attempt in 2024.
The alliance cited Ohio-specific data that showed about 20% of the state’s middle school students reported their mental health as “not good” most or all of the time, while 35% of Ohio high school students reported “persistent” sadness or hopelessness.
While the state has invested in OhioRISE, a youth managed care program, and other pediatric mental health programs, advocates say gaps remain, even when insurance exists for such care.
“Families in Ohio face multiple barriers, including workforce shortages, long wait times for child-specialized providers, affordability issues, and geographic disparities, particularly in rural communities,” the alliance said in a statement to the Capital Journal.
The Health Policy Institute of Ohio found in a 2025 study that even families with private insurance, also called commercial insurance, had trouble finding treatment for their children.
They had more difficulty than those on Medicaid, though there was still a higher percentage of children on Medicaid who were not receiving needed care, according to the study.
In 2023, 17% of children and youth aged 3 to 17 on Medicaid needed mental health treatment, compared to 12% of children and youth with commercial insurance, the institute found.
Overall between 2022 and 2023, 38% of Ohio children needing mental health treatment found is “somewhat or very difficult to access treatment.”
The study from the policy institute spotlighted a different issue as well, a shortage of mental health professionals in most of Ohio.
As of July of last year, 75 of the state’s 88 counties were considered “mental health professional shortage areas.”
“There is a critical shortage of providers who treat young children, especially infant and early childhood mental health professionals,” the study found.
This creates a general issue, but creates even more issues for Ohioans who are trying to access specialized care for “complex behavioral health needs” or for those in low-income families, according to NAMI-Ohio.
Data is still a problem when it comes to mental health for young children, something the Health Policy Institute of Ohio said is important for policymakers when driving lawmaking decisions regarding the services and access that young children can have.
“Critical provider shortages, high cost-sharing and gaps in insurance coverage are among the barriers to accessing care,” the health institute’s policy brief stated.
“At the same time, Ohio lacks comprehensive data to demonstrate system capacity needs across the state.”
The state should have more information to work in the next few years, because of a provision in last year’s Ohio House Bill 7.
In it, the state department of Medicaid is required to submit a report to the General Assembly by June 30, 2027, which will include how many families and children received mental health services through the public insurance, what type of service they received, and the “outcome metrics” for those served.
Advocates welcome further data to get a comprehensive picture of the care used and needed by the state’s children.
Along with that accurate data, the Health Policy Institute of Ohio and the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio both say longterm financial and systemic support means the most in terms of making change.
“Sustained investment and coordinated systems are essential, so children receive help
before needs escalate,” the alliance said.