Across the nation, young adults living in poverty experience serious threats to their mental health. More than one in five young adults ages 18-25 living in poverty report serious psychological distress within the past year. To inform efforts to improve public policies, CLASP conducted an in-depth scan and analysis of how selected states and localities are addressing young adult mental health. Our findings, analysis, and recommendations are contained in this three-part brief series: Policy for Transformed Lives. 

This brief, Barriers to Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Young Adults, is the second of the three-part Policy for Transformed Lives series and it describes cross-cutting challenges and barriers to effectively supporting low-income young adults. 

The other parts of the Policy for Transformed Lives series are:

Policy for Transformed Lives: Executive Summary; 

State and Local Efforts to Support Young Adult Mental Health; and 

State Opportunities for Young Adult Mental Health Policy and Systems Change