Student mental health is still suffering – how should we address it?

Key points:

Between March 2020 and March 2021, K-12 schools in the U.S. experienced an unprecedented influx of aid from the federal government, totaling nearly $190 billion. This funding was intended to help students recover academically and emotionally from the pandemic. School districts across the country used these grants to hire counselors, social workers, psychologists, and other care providers. In theory, this should have been transformative; However, the available workforce was not large enough to meet demand, and rural and traditionally underserved districts faced the brunt of this shortage.

The federal government has deployed follow-up funding in a necessary step to increase the workforce of care providers. As these funding opportunities come to an end, many districts are still struggling to adequately address the mental health needs of their students.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one in three high school students They experienced poor mental health during the pandemic, but in reality, the rate of American students struggling with these challenges was increasing even before COVID. The pandemic's disruption to schooling and student development only exacerbated mental health issues, resulting in worsening anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems. Like funds like IS TO BE comes to an end, schools that were able to increase care teams or introduce new mental wellbeing initiatives now face a funding chasm. The impact of this is predictable: students will suffer as staff and programs are reduced. To address this problem, the American education system must look for alternative solutions.

Expand beyond traditional approaches

Counselors, social workers, and school psychologists are the most impactful frontline resources available to support students' mental well-being; However, these professionals face a large number of cases and lawsuits that go beyond their normal scope. For example, according to a 2020 survey of 7,000 school counselors, many have had to act as substitute teachers, conduct temperature checks, and take on other duties as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. To improve support for student mental health, we need to broaden our narrow perception of what care can look like.

Beyond the traditional Western medicine approach, school districts should consider adopting solutions such as peer counseling, where students who have been trained can come together to support each other and address personal, social or emotional challenges. Peer counseling allows students to become stakeholders in their mental health while providing benefits such as cultural relevance, early intervention, crisis prevention, and social-emotional skill development. This effective strategy is strongly advocated by California Children's Trustwho has worked tirelessly over the past several years to make peer support reimbursable for California schools through Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program.

Additionally, utilizing a community-based collaborative care model can further bolster a school system's mental health resources. This type of approach is not intended to replace the role of trained mental health professionals, but can provide a Tier 1 and 2 Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) for large populations of students. An effective initiative of this type may be to invite vetted community leaders to come and offer culturally tailored support, a resource often lacking in schools. When combined with other solutions, community-based care approaches can play a central role in improving students' mental well-being.

Embracing technology

While in-person methods such as career counseling, peer-to-peer programs, and community-based collaborative care models present a variety of benefits, there is an immediate, ready-made solution for K-12 to effectively close the gaps. in your mental health resources. : mental health digital products.

technology is accessible and easily complements care providers, and dozens of evidence-based, culturally competent products are being used successfully in school districts. These digital products can complement school-based care providers with treatment plans and access to telehealth, assessment tools, screening, monitoring, and preventive technologies, providing education, awareness, peer support, and other non-clinical approaches.

While effective technology solutions exist, most schools face barriers to adopting and using them. Figuring out how to fund product implementation, choosing which products to trust, and understanding exactly what types of student mental health issues need to be addressed are common obstacles expressed by school systems.

Proper allocation of resources can help ensure a better future

Although several technological products focused on mental health are currently available, there is still a lack of investment for these types of innovations. With federal funding drying up, large venture capital-backed companies that have not previously worked in the education sector are beginning to enter the scene, and often these companies are driven by interests that do not meet the needs of the students they serve. They are destined. be serving.

The key to supporting school systems, and ultimately students, is to harness the power of culturally competent and age-appropriate solutions that entrepreneurs with lived experience are developing while supporting school systems by helping them to identify, adopt and use these transformative products.