“A Better Me for My Children”: A Call for Systemic Relational Family Work in Child and Youth Mental Health

Despite an established body of knowledge supporting the efficacy of systemic and relational approaches in children’s mental health care, there are mounting barriers to family involvement. The current reflexive thematic analysis included data from parents, social work students, university faculty and field professionals, and school board professionals ( n = 65) to understand the mental health needs of parents and families. The findings exemplify the importance of systemic and relational family work for parents supporting their child and family’s mental health. We found a pre-existing and deepening gap in the accessibility of such supports since COVID-19. Implications include a call to renew systems thinking in children’s mental health, a systemic re-shift toward family service organizations including options for multiple members of a family, and education in social work that fosters systemic and relational family approaches to children’s mental health.