Opinion: Funding for school-based mental health critical in proposed budget

It is critical that Pennsylvania state lawmakers pass Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget, which dedicates $500 million to school-based mental health over the next five years. It is a commitment to prioritizing students’ mental health just as much as their physical health, something we desperately need as record numbers of students report feeling sad, anxious, or worse.

Nationally, nearly 23% of U.S. adults experience mental illness each year with 5.5% of U.S. adults experiencing serious mental illness each year. Like most of the country, students in Pennsylvania are struggling with anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and other mental disorders. This past year, 127,000 children in our state reported at least one major depressive episode — nearly 14% of all Pennsylvania youth. One report found that over half of them didn’t receive treatment.

Research has shown that, when youth get support early for mental health and substance use challenges, they have fewer symptoms, do better in school, and their young lives are kept on track. They also have reduced absenteeism and fewer behavioral problems.

One of the most effective approaches to get kids the help they need is to meet them where they are — in schools. Having worked as a school-based therapist for many years and now as a professor of social work, I can attest that school-based mental health services reduce barriers to care such as parents needing to take time off of work and transportation. It can also reduce the stigma associated with mental illness by demonstrating to the school community that these services are normal, even necessary. They also reduce barriers to access for households of color and low-income households.

Gov. Shapiro’s budget also includes a significant commitment to community mental health services that will improve mental health access in rural areas. In addition, it will cover up-front costs for the implementation of the 988 crisis system, allowing quicker and more effective response to people experiencing a mental health crisis. In Pennsylvania, approximately 1.7 million Pennsylvanians do not have adequate access to mental health professionals. In the last year, 98,000 children and adolescents aged 12 to 17 years old were diagnosed with depression, yet 57% of these children and adolescents were unable to receive any care. Mobile response enables trained mental health professionals to reach distressed individuals wherever they are, providing the compassionate care that traditional first responders often aren’t able to.

It is vital that Pennsylvania children struggling with their mental health receive the care they need and deserve. State lawmakers must do their job to protect our children.