In almost any resource that works with children and adolescents, there is a phrase that is repeated with increasing frequency: “This is no longer just educational”. Behind that statement there is not a gratuitous complaint, but the recognition of a reality that affects educational centers, protection resources, socio-educational programs and juvenile justice systems: the emotional distress of minors is increasingly visible, more intense and more difficult to manage with traditional tools.
Talking about child and adolescent mental health today isn't about a specialized topic affecting only a few specific cases. It's about the day-to-day reality of intervention. It's about emotional crises, overwhelming behavior, self-harm, anxiety, emotional blocks, and a persistent sadness that doesn't always fit clear diagnoses but permeates the lives of many children and young people served by these resources.
The question, therefore, is not whether mental health is present in interventions with minors, but whether the resources and teams are truly prepared to meet this growing demand without blurring their function or assuming responsibilities that do not belong to them.
When discomfort takes center stage
In recent years, there has been a clear shift in the profiles of the children receiving care. Emotional distress, which previously appeared more sporadically or as a secondary issue, has become a central element in many interventions. It doesn't always present with a defined diagnosis, but it does show clear signs of distress: difficulty regulating emotions, low frustration tolerance, persistent anxiety, self-harm, or profound emotional detachment.
This scenario places professionals in a complex position. On the one hand, they cannot ignore this distress or reduce it to a behavioral problem. On the other, many resources are neither designed nor equipped to offer specialized therapeutic care. The line between educational, social, and clinical interventions becomes blurred, generating insecurity and, at times, a feeling of being overwhelmed.
The risk is twofold: either the child's suffering is minimized by addressing it solely through rules and restraint, or a therapeutic role is assumed for which the resource is not prepared, with the consequent professional burnout.
Is everything about mental health?
One of the most common debates within teams is the feeling that “everything is mental health.” This perception doesn't arise from nowhere. It stems from a context in which emotional distress has been normalized and, at the same time, over-medicalized. Not all suffering is a disorder, nor does all maladaptive behavior require an immediate clinical response.
Many children carry the burden of past trauma, emotional deprivation, or dysfunctional family environments, which explains a large part of their emotional difficulties. Acknowledging this is not to diminish the problem, but rather to place it within a broader context that allows for meaningful intervention.
The challenge for professionals lies in refining their perspective: knowing when we are facing a complex evolutionary process, when we are witnessing an adaptive response to an adverse context, and when we are facing a situation that requires specialized mental health intervention. This distinction is not always clear, and precisely for this reason, it requires training, coordination, and spaces for shared reflection.
Resources strained, equipment pushed to its limits
The increasing prevalence of severe emotional problems has strained resources. Many teams feel responsible for managing situations for which they lack both the necessary resources and institutional support. Referrals to mental health services are delayed, follow-up is inconsistent, and coordination between systems does not always function as it should.
In this context, the educational or socio-educational team becomes, de facto, the child's primary support system. This has enormous value, but also comes at a cost. Continued exposure to emotional suffering, without sufficient tools or outlets for coping, increases the risk of burnout, frustration, and feelings of helplessness.
It's not surprising that expressions of exhaustion, loss of purpose, or questioning of one's professional role emerge. When everything seems urgent and serious, maintaining a coherent educational intervention becomes increasingly difficult.
The role of the professional: to accompany without intruding
One of the most important lessons in this scenario is understanding that supporting someone through distress doesn't mean becoming a therapist. The role of the socio-educational professional is not to diagnose or treat, but rather to create safe, stable, and predictable environments where the child can begin to regulate their emotions.
This involves knowing how to be present, maintaining silence, setting clear boundaries without violence, and tolerating emotional intensity without reacting impulsively. It also involves recognizing when a situation exceeds the scope of available resources and requires specialized intervention, and knowing how to ask for help without feeling it as a professional failure.
This balance—neither minimizing the distress nor taking on all of it—is one of the major challenges in working with children today. And it is also one of the least addressed aspects in initial training.
Coordination: the great unfinished task
Child and adolescent mental health care cannot fall on a single system. Education, protection, justice, and mental health services need to engage in real and effective dialogue. However, in practice, this coordination remains fragile and uneven.
Professionals often find themselves mediating between systems that don't always share the same timelines, languages, or priorities. This situation generates frustration and places the child in an additionally vulnerable position, as they have to adapt to fragmented responses.
Strengthening coordination is not just an organizational matter, but also a matter of training. Understanding how each system works and what one's own role is within that network is key to intervening more coherently.
Training to stay on track
Given this situation, specialized training takes on a central role. Not to turn socio-educational professionals into clinicians, but to equip them with tools that allow them to understand emotional distress, intervene with greater confidence, and protect their own professional well-being.
Training in mental health applied to intervention with minors helps to:
- Read behaviors from a broader perspective.
- Avoid punitive responses to suffering.
- Establish clear professional boundaries.
- Improve coordination with other resources.
- Reduce the emotional strain on the team.
It's not about knowing more, but about knowing better what to do and what not to do.
A necessary look
Child and adolescent mental health will remain a central focus of intervention in the coming years. Denying this or completely delegating it to other systems is not a realistic option. But neither is assuming it without reflection or training.
The key lies in developing interventions that acknowledge the distress, address it with educational purpose, and rely on strong professional networks. Only in this way will it be possible to support children without overwhelming those who work with them.
Thinking about this issue is not a fad or a trend. It is an urgent necessity to ensure more humane, coherent, and sustainable interventions over time.
Would you like to study these and other current topics related to childhood and adolescent development? Learn about the Postgraduate in Intervention with Minors and work on what you really like!
