Long Awaited Guidance for Supporting Student Mental Health Highlights Key Challenges and Recommendations to Schools
National entities are just now beginning to ring the alarm on the issue of youth mental health, as students return to in-person school and educators continue to struggle with how to address the trauma, social and developmental delays, and growing needs related to youth mental health associated with COVID. On October 19th, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Children’s Hospital Association declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health. In tandem, the Department of Education released long-awaited guidance on how stakeholders can help provide mental health support and services for youth in schools.
Despite the current federal funding and attention on mental health for youth, there remains a considerable role for philanthropy to ensure mental health considerations are adequately integrated in schools to prevent and intervene early. Below we highlight key takeaways for funders considering investments to support youth mental health in schools based on recent guidance and general reports:
The Department of Education’s guidance, Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Mental Health, outlines key challenges related to mental health in schools and presents evidence-based recommendations for educators, staff, and providers to create a system of supports for students with behavioral health needs and their families. Donors can align their funding to remaining gaps in public funding by supporting an increase in school mental health providers and school nurses, lifting up youth voice and empowering youth decision making, and providing more flexible funding to school districts and school support organizations as they navigate how best to use restricted federal and state funding.
Gaps in funding between public and private sources lead to many children and students receiving limited or no services for documented mental health needs. In spite of a recent influx of federal funding, research shows that mental health policy implementation is uneven and varies widely by state. Local education agencies (LEAs) have ultimate discretion in how the money is spent and implemented. Philanthropy can provide support to LEAs and other local entities to determine appropriate strategies to meet their needs and align with public funding. Donors can also lift up and support organizations to implement successful models of supporting school mental health, for example the Mental & Behavioral Health Roadmap & Toolkit for Schools developed by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute in Texas.
Students of color disproportionately access their mental health care at school, often because they don’t have access to specialty mental health services. Donors can invest in increasing access to crisis response in schools, such as by integrating social services and clinical care programs in schools, especially in light of the roll out of the 988 and the need for more youth appropriate options for accessing crisis support.
If you are interested in discussing these opportunities in greater detail or learning more, please reach out to us at Mindful Philanthropy to schedule a meeting at info@mindfulphilanthropy.org.
