Key points:
- Varied mental health supports can help students to become stakeholders in their well-being
- Empowering staff and students with a sense of belonging
- Schools are key to solving mental health equity gaps
- For more news on student mental health, visit eSN’s SEL & Well-Being hub
Between March 2020 and March 2021, K-12 schools in the U.S. saw an unprecedented influx in federal government aid, totaling nearly $190 billion. This funding aimed to help students recover both academically and emotionally from the pandemic. School districts across the country utilized these grants to hire counselors, social workers, psychologists, and other care providers. In theory, this should have been transformative; however, the available workforce wasn’t large enough to meet the demand, and traditionally underserved and rural districts faced the brunt of this shortage.
Subsequent follow-up funding has been deployed by the federal government in a necessary step to increase the workforce of care providers. As these funding opportunities come to a close, many districts are still left struggling to adequately address their students’ mental health needs.…Read More