In honor of National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, Goldie Hawn, child advocate and founder of The Hawn Foundation, campaigned for effective children's mental health programs at a Congressional briefing.

"Children represent a fraction of our population, but 100 percent of our future," says Goldie Hawn. "One in 10 suffers from serious mental health disorders, and most aren't getting the help they need. We need to address this crisis before it's too late."

Working with leading neuroscientists, educators and researchers, The Hawn Foundation developed a program for grades K-7 that improves children's emotional and cognitive skills to help them understand and manage their own emotions, moods and behaviors; reduce stress and anxiety; sharpen concentration; increase empathy; and improve their performance in school.

"Increasing social and emotional learning skills is cost-effective and makes a big impact," Hawn says. "Congress should increase funding to scale up programs like these to save our children's lives, save our schools and save our nation's money, too."

For more information, visit www.nami.org.