The statistics are staggering and heartbreaking: Among children ages 10-14, suicide is the second leading cause of death nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the third leading cause of death for those ages 15-24.

And mental health care providers in Collier County say the region is not immune from the pediatric mental health crisis that is being felt across the country.

In fiscal year 2024-25, which ended June 30, David Lawrence Centers for Behavioral Care said it served 382 children, teens and young adults who either reported suicidal ideation or had self-harming behavior. According to DLC, that is more than double the children, teens and young adults it served in 2018-19, when the number was 159 children and teens.

Also in FY2025-25, DLC said it served 680 children and teens in its Children’s Crisis Stabilization Unit, a more than 30% increase in the number of children and teens served in FY2018-19.

According to the 2024 Florida Youth Tobacco Survey, 29% of Collier County middle and high schoolers said they felt sad or hopeless for two or more weeks in a row and stopped doing usual activities in the past year, compared to 26.7% statewide.

But thanks to recent grants from the Naples Children and Education Foundation, Collier County providers, including Naples Comprehensive Health and DLC, are expanding their resources aimed at helping children and families experiencing mental health crises.

NCEF support for local pediatric mental health care

As part of the spring grant cycle supported by more than $34 million raised at this year’s Naples Winter Wine Festival, NCEF presented a $1 million multiyear grant to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami for expansion of pediatric behavioral health services in Collier County in partnership with NCH and Lighthouse Pediatrics.

Maria Jimenez-Lara

NCEF also presented $1 million to DLC to support the creation of the Van Domelen Children’s Center of Excellence.

CEO Maria Jimenez-Lara said NCEF’s pediatric mental health initiatives are designed to help children receive the help they need locally.

“We know that one in six children experience some kind of mental health challenge,” Jimenez-Lara said. “That’s a lot of children, and the more individuals and services we can have out there in the community, then the quicker we can get assistance and help identify early, if need be, get diagnosed early and get treatment early before things escalate.”

Jimenez-Lara said the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital partnership with NCH becomes part of NCEF’s “Beautiful Minds” program, started in 2012, which united DLC, Golisano Children’s Hospital, National Alliance on Mental Health Illness Collier County, Healthcare Network and Florida State University College of Medicine’s Immokalee Health Education Site to provide integrated mental health coverage between pediatricians and psychologists.

Nicklaus Children’s partners with NCH and Lighthouse Pediatrics

With the new multi-year support from NCEF, the department of psychology at Nicklaus Children’s is partnering with NCH, in collaboration with Lighthouse Pediatrics, to provide services including screenings, interventions, consultations, care coordination and education.

“We basically expanded a model that was really successful and found a way to leverage a new partnership but still keep the model that was working and expanded to other doctors’ offices so that more children could receive these services,” Jimenez-Lara said.

Dr. Sara Rivero-Conil

Dr. Sara Rivero-Conil serves as associate director, pediatric psychology, at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. She said the integration of primary care and behavioral health services creates a system of care that helps identify and prevent children’s mental health issues.

“The reason why we are focusing on being in the pediatricians’ offices is because that’s where parents take their kids,” Rivero-Conil said. “Research has shown that oftentimes kids or individuals are receiving [mental health] services eight to 10 years after that first symptom, and we’re late at that point.

“Being in the pediatrician’s office where the parents are trusting their doctors and being there side-by-side with the pediatrician is really where our goal is, to get there before or at the beginning of symptoms versus waiting eight to 10 years later. The significance of that is timely early intervention and sometimes prevention.”

Paula DiGrigoli, senior director of the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital partnership at NCH, said she thinks the initiative is providing parents and families with new tools to help children who are experiencing anxiety or depression.

She said she thinks the initiative is already making a difference, even after just a few months, for a couple of reasons.

“One, it’s early intervention,” DiGrigoli said. “And it is coming from a trusted source, which is the pediatrician. We as parents respect our pediatricians, and when the pediatrician says, ‘I believe that you and your family can benefit from seeing a licensed mental health professional because of this anxiety and depression,’ they listen.”

Secondly, she said she thinks the Beautiful Mind initiative partners — including DLC, NAMI, Healthcare Network, NCH and now Nicklaus Children’s Hospital — help take away the stigma of mental health treatment.

“Having these programs through the pediatrician’s office is saying to the family it’s OK for your child to have anxiety or depression, and it’s OK to go and see somebody,” DiGrigoli said.

As part of the initiative, psychology services are now offered at Nicklaus Children’s at Naples Northeast at 15420 Collier Blvd. and Nicklaus Children’s at Naples Health Park at 11181 Health Park Blvd.

DLC makes plans for new children’s center on main campus

This spring’s $1 million NCEF grant to DLC will support the planned Van Domelen Children’s Center of Excellence, with construction scheduled to begin in early 2027 and completion anticipated in mid-2028.

The new center is named for Naples philanthropist Julia Van Domelen, who pledged $10 million for the two-story, 31,000-square-foot facility that will house all children’s programming at DLC.

DLC Senior Advancement Officer Miriam Pereira said the Van Domelen Children’s Center will be where all day-to-day services and programs for children and teens will be provided, including a 30-bed crisis stabilization unit.

Miriam Pereira

A press release announcing the grant said children and families will also access triage services, partial hospitalization/day treatment, outpatient therapy and medication, as well as intensive community-based care.

“Right now, we provide all of those services in different buildings on our main campus and elsewhere in the community,” Pereira said. “This building will house everything under one roof, from the crisis unit, inpatient care and outpatient support.”

Pereira said the Van Domelen children’s center will include a play therapy room and private meeting rooms for sessions with therapists and family members. She said the building will also feel “more welcoming, less institutional.”

“There’s going to be a huge welcome sign at the entrance so that when a child or teen comes in, they don’t feel like they’ve done something wrong,” she said. “They feel like they’re welcome and they’re here to be helped.”

She said the new $1 million NCEF grant will go toward “finishing touches” on the building.

“It will be furniture, fixtures and equipment, and all the nuts-and-bolts and the guts of the building that will help us provide the day-to-day services that children will receive in that building,” Pereira said.

What is causing the mental health crisis?

Experts say there are many factors contributing to the pediatric mental health crisis for some children and teens, including lingering effects from the isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic; post-traumatic stress from a series of hurricanes; bullying at school or on social media; and a changing political and economic climate.

Rivero-Conil of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital said she thinks “we live in a tough society now.”

“Adults are having a hard time with that, and parents and adults are modeling these behaviors for children,” she said. “I think navigating the world is difficult enough, so that is one factor.”

She also cites “unhealthy” use of social media, as opposed to ways that social media can be used for good.

“I certainly think bullying [contributes] and what everyone went through in the pandemic; there are some lingering things,” Rivero-Conil said. “I don’t think people are talking about it as much anymore, but we all went through something and we’re all catching up on that missed time. There’s just a lot of things that are going on with kids these days that are impacting their emotional health.”