Child psychiatry is a medical specialty with a solid neurobiological, psychosocial, cultural, and developmental basis. It focuses on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders, but also the prevention of complications and relapse. Mental health, according to the WHO, aims to improve each person's overall well-being, personal accomplishment, and contribution to society. It is therefore not only a health and medical issue, but also a societal issue in general. Given the predictions of increased demand for mental health services, in particular during the coronavirus crisis, it is important to update the definition of these concepts. It is also important to situate the different levels of intervention in Belgium and to clarify the interactions between the multiple partners working in child and adolescent mental health, the purpose here being to preserve and support the specificity of child psychiatry. ; SCOPUS: ar.j ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published