Early access and help seeking: practice implications and new initiatives.

AIM Seeking appropriate help for early signs and symptoms of psychological distress can reduce the long-term impact of many mental disorders. This article describes practice implications and new initiatives for promoting early access and help-seeking among young people. METHODS Relevant help-seeking research is reviewed, and prominent help-seeking barriers are discussed. RESULTS Prominent barriers for young people include: incomplete mental health and emotional literacy, beliefs about having little need for help versus having a need for autonomy, and the process of help-negation for different symptoms of psychological distress. CONCLUSIONS To improve early access to appropriate help and mental health services, barriers that can be reduced, and in particular, psychological distress symptoms that promote the help-negation process, must be reduced as soon as they can be. Strategies that can be used by clinicians, parents and others, including young people, to encourage appropriate help-seeking are provided. Examples of how these strategies are implemented in several innovative programs and approaches are discussed.