The Growing Role of Pediatric Primary Care in Supporting Children’s Mental Health

Pediatric clinicians are entrusted with providing parents and caregivers with the latest guidance to support them in raising happy and healthy children. It’s a role we take seriously. To ensure we align with evidence-based best practices, we continuously look to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) for updates in clinical care recommendations.

What’s new from the AAP?

An Expanded Mental Health Focus

In 2025, the academy expanded its mental health guidelines, recommending a more robust schedule of screenings for mental, emotional, and behavioral health. This new focus is a response to increasing mental health challenges among children and teens. Currently, 40 percent of children are expected to experience a mental health issue by the age of 16.

The ramped-up screening schedule focuses on clinical teams identifying and addressing mental health issues early on before they become more serious and entrenched.

Here is what’s in the 2025 mental health guideline:

• Screenings During the Early Years: Pediatricians and other healthcare providers are tasked with conducting mental health screenings earlier and more frequently. This begins with screening infant caregivers for postpartum depression. Screening of infants and toddlers is recommended at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months, alternating these with developmental and autism checks. These early mental health screenings focus on sleep, how the baby/child expresses feelings and behaviors such as crying, fussiness, and self-soothing.
• Ages 3 and Above: Annual mental/emotional and behavioral screenings are recommended during routine pediatric checkups for children ages 3 and above. Annual screening for anxiety is recommended at ages 8 to 18 years, and annual depression screening starts at age 12, while substance abuse assessments begin at age 11.  Furthermore, depression screenings can be completed before age 12 depending on whether certain risk factors are present and if it is necessary for the child’s wellbeing.
• When Concerns Arise: When screening identifies concerns, pediatricians and healthcare providers can provide guidance to help families address issues. For more severe matters, the pediatrician can refer the child for clinical intervention.

The Importance of the New Guidelines

The new guidelines represent an important shift, with mental health evaluations becoming part of routine check-ups throughout a child’s lifetime. This fosters a more comprehensive approach to health, with both mental and physical health assessed at regular intervals.

In integrating mental health assessments into routine care, we clinicians hope to reduce the stigma of mental health issues and help identify concerns early on so that children can get the help they need to live their best lives.