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Explore how school-based mental health policies support students with anxiety, depression, ADHD, trauma, and more. Young adults 18 to 24 work in schools and other centers to help connect students to mental health and other support. The report grades states based on how well they’ve developed eight different kinds of programs and services to improve school mental health. The group published a new report this week rating states based on how well they are addressing the crisis through programs and services in schools. With many kids struggling emotionally, group of mental health organizations are pushing for increased investment in mental health services in schools. The targeted support toolkit helps schools and colleges review, refresh and develop targeted support for learners with mental health or social and emotional wellbeing needs.

Danna Mauch, president of the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, said she and her team have been working to find ways to sustain the program through a patchwork of third-party insurance, private grants, and state funds. At Springfield’s Washington Elementary, Asher allocated $137,000 to keep the clinician originally funded by the grant on the school payroll full time. Private funders typically support such new or experimental initiatives to get them off the ground.

How Integrated Behavioral Health Degrees Transform School Mental Health Programs

• Counselors must convey to students that their office is a sanctuary of trust, where anything shared will be treated with the utmost respect and discretion.
• Having mental health staff available within elementary schools and secondary schools improves access to school-based health care and reduces wait times.
• This flexibility allows teens to receive the level of care that best matches their needs.
• The journey has illuminated the profound impact that a supportive, well-informed school environment can have on students’ mental well-being.

Rising rates of depression, anxiety, ADHD, trauma exposure, and self-harm have pushed schools and policymakers to rethink how mental health support is delivered. School-based mental health policies are becoming essential pillars of educational systems across the United States as districts recognize the urgency of addressing student well-being. More students began seeking out mental health support on their own. “Day after day, I hear my friends and those on the line voice about how inaccessible school counselors are due to being overworked and overloaded. This is an especially difficult challenge for the many teens who rely on school mental health professionals for crisis care.” The good news, says Kimball, is that a growing number of states have adopted legislation to incorporate mental health in K-12 health curricula, so that students have the language to understand, talk about and seek help https://www.cascadepbs.org/opinion/2021/01/how-wa-schools-can-support-students-struggling-mental-health/ for their emotional health if necessary. These are places which have invested very little in mental health support in schools.

Funding

Carelon Behavioral Health’s new student assistance program (SAP)  helps to foster improved youth mental health, which can lead to more academically and socially engaged students. By supplementing mental health teams with additional staff that offered free therapy sessions and long-term treatment plans for students, the program has helped drive down the number of suspensions, absences, and emergency 911 calls at schools. A law passed in 2021 making funding available for school-based mental health services, and Senate leaders this year have pledged to put together a legislative package addressing mental health, including improving kids’ access to care. For example, she says, Colorado has leveraged Medicaid to cover school-based mental health care – including telehealth services – for all eligible students. Hopeful Futures CampaignMore information on the national report card that scores every state on policies that support school mental health, and the action center to empower caregivers about our children and youth to learn more and drive change in their community.

ways to get involved in Children’s Mental Health Week

“So it helps because when I explain something to a parent, it’s on equal terms, in a better way than they would hear it from the school.” “I speak Spanish and English and I am a parent,” said Claudia Ortiz, the grant-funded family support specialist working at Somerville High. The additional assistance helped reduce the school’s suspensions by half over the last year, from 61 in 2024 to 31 last year, administrators said. The grant funding from three philanthropic foundations was only intended to get the program started. Our team includes expert clinicians trained in trauma therapy, EMDR, CBT, ACT, DBT, medication management, and specialty services for depression, anxiety, ADHD, OCD, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, and trauma.