[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 44 (Monday, November 8, 1999)]
[Pages 2220-2221]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7246--Child Mental Health Month, 1999

October 30, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    As a Nation, we have made much progress in ensuring the physical 
health of our young people. But we are only beginning to make similar 
strides in protecting their mental health. The symptoms of mental 
illness in children and adolescents too often go unrecognized and 
therefore untreated--a tragic failing that can lead to profound effects 
on their development. Even very young children can experience anxiety 
and depressive disorders that can have a long-term negative impact on 
their social interactions at home and at school.
    Unfortunately, our attitudes regarding mental illness have 
compounded this problem. While we now know that more than one in five 
Americans experiences some form of mental illness each year, that many 
mental disorders are biological, and that they can be treated medically, 
too many people still believe that mental illness is a personal failure. 
Because of this widespread misconception, many parents are reluctant to 
acknowledge that their children need help, and many children who need 
help are afraid to ask for it.
    During Child Mental Health Month, I encourage all parents, teachers, 
pediatricians, school nurses, other health care professionals, and 
concerned citizens across our country to learn more about children's 
mental health. By doing so, we can recognize more quickly the early 
warning signs of mental illnesses and disorders. We can detect 
depression before it deepens into serious illness, raise awareness of 
risk factors for suicide, and work to prevent more acts of youth 
violence.
    We must do all we can to intervene in the lives of young people who 
are mentally or emotionally unstable before they cause harm to 
themselves or to others. I am pleased that some schools have responded 
to the recent youth violence tragedies by improving mental health 
services, expanding after-school and mentoring programs, and offering 
in-home counseling for vulnerable families. To ensure the success of 
these efforts, we must work to fight the stigma and dispel the myths 
that surround mental illness. By engaging in efforts that raise public 
awareness of our children's mental health, we can replace stigma with 
acceptance, ignorance with understanding, and fear with new hope for the 
future.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 
1999 as Child Mental Health Month. I call upon families, schools, 
communities, and governments to dedicate themselves to promoting the 
mental health and well-being of all our children.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day 
of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, 
and of the Independence of the

[[Page 2221]]

United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., November 3, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on November 1, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
November 4.