How Schools in California Can Make Mental Health Care More Accessible to Their Students

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, an independent source for health policy research, in 2021, 9.3% of children from the ages of 3-17 in California received mental health care. Access to mental health care remains an issue in California; this issue exists for several reasons, such as limited knowledge of mental health and the stigma surrounding it. In a survey analyzing the barriers to children accessing professional mental health help, 46% of the participants stated that they did not know where to find it and did not deem their problems severe enough to receive it, while 39% of the participants reported that they saw seeking help as a sign of weakness (Radez et al., 2020). As a result, many children are left to deal with their mental health problems on their own. However, mental health issues cannot get better on their own. If an individual leaves their mental health problems unaddressed, they could face many serious problems, from failing classes to substance abuse. With children unable to access the necessary mental health services, providing mental health services at school would make help more accessible to children.

The first step schools can take to provide mental health support for their students is implementing mental health-based practices. Specifically, schools could provide mental health screenings for their students, which would help schools identify their students’ needs and create specialized services (Panchal, Cox, & Rudowitz, 2022). Screenings could also help schools identify students at risk of mental health problems, helping the students receive the necessary services earlier. Schools could also implement early intervention and prevention programs, which are designed to promote early intervention of threats to mental health and prevent mental health problems from becoming more severe (Mental Health Services Oversight & Accountability Commission, 2023). Teachers and students would learn how to identify the warning signs of mental health problems and the resources they can turn to to minimize the risks of these problems. Such mental-based practices at school will enable students to understand more about mental health and receive the proper help that is necessary.

Another way that students can receive mental health support is through school counselors. The American School Counselor Association recommends that schools have a counselor for every 250 students to better support their students’ needs. However, across all schools in the U.S., on average, there is a counselor for every 464 students (American School Counselor Association, 2019). By leaving school counselors responsible for an unmanageable number of students, counselors cannot meet their students’ individual needs, such as mental health support. To combat this issue, schools should hire more counselors. Research shows that the lower the student-to-school-counselor ratios, the better the academic outcomes, such as improved attendance, fewer disciplinary incidents, and higher graduation rates (Lapan, Gysbers, Stanley & Pierce, 2018).

School-based mental health services would help break down the barriers many children face when seeking mental health help. By providing these services, mental health help will be more accessible to children and be more convenient for them to seek help through school since they spend up to six hours a day at school. In fact, research demonstrates that schools making mental health help more accessible to students have many benefits, such as improved classroom behavior, lower rates of depression, and fewer emergency visits (Thornton, 2020).

Overall, the rates of depression and suicidal feelings in high school students have increased in the last decade (Reback, 2018). Mental health is now the number one reason for hospitalization of school-aged children. Many children only receive treatment when their mental health problems have escalated into an emergency (Holt, 2018). However, schools can address this issue through school-based mental health services, which will not only help students with mental health but also prevent their problems from becoming more severe. It is crucial that children get the mental health help they need, and mental health services in schools are the first step we should take to ensure that mental health help is more accessible to children.

References

Advanced Policy Analysis Increasing Access to School-Based Mental …, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED602997.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2023.

California, State of. “Prevention & Early Intervention.” MHSOAC, 8 June 2023, mhsoac.ca.gov/initiatives/prevention-early-intervention/.

Published:  Mar 20, 2023. “Mental Health and Substance Use State Fact Sheets.” KFF, 20 Mar. 2023, www.kff.org/statedata/mental-health-and-substance-use-state-fact-sheets/california/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%209.3%25%20of%20children,not%20receive%20mental%20health%20care.

Radez, Jerica, et al. “Why Do Children and Adolescents (Not) Seek and Access Professional Help for Their Mental Health Problems? A Systematic Review of Quantitative and Qualitative Studies – European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.” SpringerLink, 21 Jan. 2020, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-019-01469-4.

Ready, Set, Go, Review: Screening for Behavioral Health Risk … – Samhsa, www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/ready_set_go_review_mh_screening_in_schools_508.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2023.

School Counselors Matter, www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/b079d17d-6265-4166-a120-3b1f56077649/School-Counselors-Matter.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2023.

Student-to-School-Counselor Ratios, School-Level Factors, And …, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2156759X231182135. Accessed 20 June 2023.