One in five children is living with a mental illness. But kids don’t wear their thoughts on their sleeves, so it’s time to give them a voice. On Our Sleeves has created a YouTube channel dedicated to this exact cause.

Hosted by behavioral health expert Gina McDowell, the videos can help you and your child navigate the storm of mental illness and provide the most up-to-date, relevant information regarding children’s mental health. New content is posted every other Tuesday.

In some way, mental illness touches everyone. You may have a family member, friend or child who is living with a mental illness. For children, especially, the statistics are sobering, 50 percent of all lifetime mental illnesses start by age 14. It’s time to have a conversation about our children, to raise our voices for this important cause.

Resources:

If someone you care about is in an emergency, life-threatening situation, call 9-1-1 or go to an emergency department. For crisis situations that are not life-threatening, please call your county’s psychiatric crisis line number. In Franklin County, call (614) 722-1800 for youth and adolescents 17 and under. Ages 18 and older should call (614) 276-2273. If someone you care about is having thoughts of suicide or needs to talk, encourage them to contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. If you prefer to text, you can text “START” to 741-741 where a live, trained specialist will respond back to you.

This content, in partnership with NBC4, is sponsored by Nationwide Children’s Hospital