ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: A century ago, concerned citizens started the Children's Memorial Clinic and provided services for kids after the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

ROBERT BOLLING: Out of that, many children in our community were left without parents or without caregivers.

ChildSavers came into existence to try to support the health and welfare of those children and community and weve been in that space ever since.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: 100 years later, and now called ChildSavers, CEO Robert Bolling says the mission to help kids and families hasn't changed.

ROBERT BOLLING: How do we support children who've experienced significant trauma in their lives, such that they can thrive for the rest of their lives?

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: Coming out of the COVID pandemic, Virginia was struggling to keep up with an increased need for youth mental health care services, ranking 48th in the nation for care in 2023.

ROBERT BOLLING: That needs to change, and I think a lot of things the commonwealth are starting to move in that direction to change it.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: Governor Glenn Youngkins “Right Help, Right Now” initiative offers $230 million of new funding over three years to transform the state's behavioral health care system.

Another change, according to VCU psychologist Michael Southam-Gerow is the decreased stigma around mental health.

MICHAEL SOUTHAM-GEROW: We teach our kids in schools to talk about their feelings, to talk about how they're feeling so and that is-- that's a positive thing.

But any time you create a context where people can talk about things, you're going to notice it more.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: The increased demand may mean those most in need have a more difficult time accessing care.

That's been a main focus for ChildSavers.

ROBERT BOLLING: Children of color have less access to child care services, and those are primarily Black children and in brown children.

And so our work in trying to increase the level of access for those kids is really important.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: Bolling says ChildSavers will continue to focus on the needs of all children.

ROBERT BOLLING: And if we do that, well be around 100 years from now celebrating the fact that our kids are performing well.

ADRIENNE HOAR McGIBBON: For VPM News, I'm Adrienne Hoar McGibbon.