Getting Mental Health Help for Your Child or Teen in New Jersey

If your child is in immediate danger, call 911. If your child talks about suicide or self-harm, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. For a youth crisis that is urgent but not life-threatening, New Jersey's Mobile Response teams are reached through PerformCare at 1-877-652-7624, 24 hours a day.

Every parent of a teenager has asked some version of the same question. Is this just a phase, or is something wrong?

It deserves a real answer. In the CDC's 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 33% of U.S. high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the past year. That is down from 42% in 2021, and it is still about one student in three.

Below is how to tell ordinary moodiness from a warning sign, how to raise it with your child, and where New Jersey families can turn, including a state line, free to call, that can send a crisis team to your home.

How do you tell normal moodiness from a warning sign?

Teenagers are supposed to pull away a little, sleep strangely, and slam a door now and then. The behavior on its own usually tells you less than what it does over time. Withdrawal after a breakup that lifts on its own is ordinary. The same withdrawal still there weeks later, now showing up in grades and friendships too, is worth a call.

The National Institute of Mental Health lists signs in children and teens that are worth raising with a health care provider. The right-hand column below draws on that list. The left-hand column is our own description of ordinary adolescence.

Some signs are not on a spectrum at all. NIMH also lists self-harm such as cutting or burning, substance use or risky behavior, thoughts of suicide, and unusual beliefs or hearing things others cannot. Any of those means you act now, not after another month of watching.

For younger children, NIMH points to frequent tantrums or irritability, constant worry or fear, stomachaches or headaches with no medical cause, and repeating actions or checking things out of fear that something bad will happen.

You do not need to diagnose your child. Notice the change, write down what you have seen and roughly when it started, and get your child in front of someone who can sort it out.

How do you start the conversation?

Pick a calm, low-stakes moment. Car rides work for a reason: no eye contact, nobody can storm off, and the conversation has a natural end.

Lead with what you have seen, not what you suspect. "You haven't wanted to see Maya in weeks, and you seem wiped out after school. I'm worried about you" is hard to argue with. "I think you're depressed" invites a fight.

Then listen longer than feels comfortable. You will probably get a shrug the first time. That is not failure. You have told them the door is open, and many kids come back to it days later.

Two things to avoid. Do not promise to keep everything secret, because you may not be able to keep that promise if their safety is at stake. And do not wait for your teen to agree there is a problem before you call the pediatrician. You are the parent. You can make the appointment.

If your child flatly refuses to engage, our guide on what to do when someone you love won't get help applies to teenagers too, with one big difference: for a minor, you can request services yourself, without waiting for your child to agree.

Where do you start?

There are three usual front doors in New Jersey. You can use more than one at the same time.

Your pediatrician or family doctor

NIMH suggests talking with your child's pediatrician. Describe what you have observed and what teachers, coaches or other adults have told you, then ask for a referral to a mental health professional. A doctor who already knows your child is also well placed to notice what has changed since the last visit.

The school

Start with the school counselor, who sees your child in a setting you do not. If you think the problem is affecting learning, New Jersey special education rules give you a specific tool.

You can ask in writing for an evaluation by the child study team. Under N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.3, a parent's written request counts as a referral, and the district must hold a meeting within 20 calendar days to decide whether to evaluate. School holidays do not count toward those 20 days, but summer vacation does. Emotional and social difficulties are among the reasons a student can be referred. Put the request on paper, date it, and keep a copy.

An evaluation does not replace treatment. It can lead to school supports, such as an individualized education program (IEP), while treatment happens elsewhere.

A therapist

You can also go straight to a child and adolescent therapist. Ask specifically whether they work with your child's age group, because training with a 7-year-old and a 16-year-old looks very different. Our guide to finding a therapist in Middlesex and Camden walks through the search, and the Middlesex County and Camden County resource pages list local programs we verified, including some that serve children and teens.

What is PerformCare, and when do you call it?

PerformCare is the single point of entry to New Jersey's Children's System of Care, run under contract with the state Department of Children and Families. It connects families to behavioral health, substance use treatment, and intellectual and developmental disability services for youth. The number is 1-877-652-7624, answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

A few facts change who should call:

• Age. PerformCare serves youth primarily ages 5 to 21 (up to the 21st birthday), with special consideration for younger children.
• Cost. Calling is free. PerformCare says the services it recommends are authorized without regard to income, private health insurance, or NJ FamilyCare eligibility. That does not make the services free. PerformCare says they are paid for by NJ FamilyCare/Medicaid, commercial insurance, or self-pay, and it will ask for your insurance information.
• Insurance paperwork. Some services, including care management and Mobile Response, require the family to complete a Medicaid application. That is not a test you have to pass first. The application can make your child eligible for Medicaid as secondary coverage or for state funds that supplement private insurance, and the care manager or mobile response worker completes it with you.

PerformCare is not only for families on Medicaid, and it is not only for emergencies. If your child needs more than weekly therapy and you do not know what exists, it is a reasonable first call.

Mobile Response: help that comes to your house

Some crises are serious without being life-threatening: a screaming fight that will not de-escalate, a child who has not left their room in three days, a panic that is not passing. Calling 911 feels like too much, and waiting it out feels like too little.

That is what Mobile Response and Stabilization Services (MRSS) is for. You call PerformCare at 1-877-652-7624, follow the prompts for urgent help, and answer questions about what is happening. PerformCare may send a mobile response team to your home within one hour to provide face-to-face crisis help. The goal is to stabilize the situation and keep your child at home. Mobile Response is available around the clock and can continue with up to eight weeks of stabilization services.

Mobile Response is for urgent situations that are not life-threatening. PerformCare's own instruction is direct: for a life-threatening emergency, dial 911.

Paying for care: NJ FamilyCare for kids

If cost is the obstacle, check NJ FamilyCare before assuming your child does not qualify. New Jersey covers children under 19 in households with income up to 355% of the federal poverty level. Under the 2026 guidelines, that is $9,763 a month for a family of four.

That limit is higher than the limit for adults, so a child can qualify even when a parent does not. Our NJ FamilyCare guide covers what mental health care is included and how to find providers who accept it.

When is it urgent?

Call 911 if your child:

• Has hurt themselves seriously or taken something
• Is threatening to hurt someone and has the means
• Is in danger right now and you cannot keep them safe

Call or text 988 if your child talks about wanting to die or is self-harming. If your child has a plan and access to the means, or you cannot keep them safe, call 911. 988 is for parents too. You can call to talk through what you are seeing and what to do next.

Each county also has a psychiatric emergency screening center that evaluates children and teens around the clock. The Middlesex and Camden centers are listed on our crisis page.

If you are still not sure

You do not need a diagnosis, or your child's agreement, to ask for help. Any one of these is a reasonable next step: book a pediatrician appointment, send the school a dated written request for a child study team evaluation, or call PerformCare at 1-877-652-7624.

Waiting another month to be sure can feel like the careful choice. If the change is still there and getting worse, the main thing waiting does is push the first appointment back.