Five Acres

Black toddler wearing a white shirt holding a heart

Wear Your Heart — A Five Acres Mental Health Initiative

Because children don’t always wear their hearts on their sleeves.

In response to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory that our children are facing a mental health crisis, and California’s goal to improve mental health and well-being for every child, Five Acres is taking stronger action by improving and expanding access and services for children in Southern California by 2030.

One in five children is living with a significant mental health concern — but too often, we don’t see it. Children, especially the youngest, don’t always have the words to express what they are experiencing. That’s why Five Acres created the Wear Your Heart initiative — to help kids and families speak up, provide education and resources, access services, and get the support they need to thrive.

In addition, the Wear Your Heart initiative recognizes and responds to the mental health challenges caused by the devastating Eaton and Palisades Fires, which displaced so many individuals and families. The Eaton Fire, in particular, left a lasting impact on the children and families we serve—many of whom are now navigating the emotional effects of wildfire-related trauma.

And no child or family should struggle alone.

button that reads I need help for my child

The crisis we are facing

One in five children is living with a mental illness. Because young kids don’t wear their hearts on their sleeves, we don’t know what they might be going through. The stigma of talking about feelings and mental health continues to be an obstacle through adolescence.
In California, there are over 284,000 children identified with major depression, but only 34% receive treatment.
Since 2016, California experienced a significant increase in reported anxiety or depression
for children.
Mental health and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among high school students across every racial and ethnic group continued to get worse, with suicide rates rising 60% since 2011.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents to young adults.
Pediatric suicide attempts, ideation, and self-injury have become the most common mental health conditions seen in children’s hospital emergency departments. Since 2016, children’s hospitals have seen a 166% increase in emergency department visits for suicide attempts and self-injury among children from 5 to 8 years old.

What Is Wear Your Heart?

Wear Your Heart is a comprehensive initiative that increases access to early mental health support through:

Parent and community education
Resource linkage for families with young children
Strategic referrals to trusted services and providers
Bilingual outreach across underserved communities

What does this look like?

Since 1888, five acres has partnered with parents across SoCal to create a permanent, safe, healthy environment. Empowering children and their parents to be aware and communicate feelings is more important today for children’s mental health and wellbeing. To support us in this initiative, we have strategic partners collaborating with us to provide the outreach, education, resources, and access.