Our youngest residents are in crisis. Many of them are depressed and have thoughts of suicide - with an alarming number successfully completing the act.

You might think Flower Mound children in crisis would have access to a psychiatric care clinic that could evaluate them and provide a course of treatment. Unfortunately, we do not have adequate provisions for severely depressed youngsters under the age of 12 within a 45-minute drive of the greater Flower Mound area. To add to our lack of facilities, many of the closest psychiatric facilities that do serve children under 12 frequently have no available beds and their outpatient programs have waiting lists.

To give you an example of how many children this could affect, consider this:

• Flower Mound has a median age of 35.5, and nearly a third of the population is 18 or younger. That adds up to over 22,000 children who could possibly need psychiatric services at some time!

While our local system is failing youngsters who have thoughts of taking their own life, suicides in this young demographic are skyrocketing.

Some other disturbing facts:

• The U.S. Surgeon General estimates 20% of the nation’s children have a mental or addictive disorder that causes impairment.


• Suicide is now ranked the third-leading cause of death for children 10-15 years of age (up from the fourth-leading cause in 1999) suicide is also the third-leading cause of death for young people ages 16-24; only accidents and homicides occur more frequently.
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released statistics stating depression is just as prevalent in children as it is in adults.


• According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention 25% to 50% of bipolar individuals make at least one suicide attempt and 10% die of suicide. 30% of individuals suffering from Major depression attempt suicide and 15% die by suicide.