Mental Health Care in Schools

Young children could be struggling with mental health struggles like depression

 Mental health care is about identifying and addressing signs of mental health struggles, starting with students as young as Kindergarten and Preschool. One in six youths, aged 6 to 17 in the U.S. experience a mental health disorder each year. Half of these disorders can be noticed and diagnosed by age 14. Some of the most common mental health issues that affect youth are anxiety, depression, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. However, only half of these youth received care for their mental health struggles in the past year. This means that many students struggle silently and alone, and this could cause them to do poorly in school and not be able to focus, as well as pull away socially.  School is especially important in addressing mental health care, because most students who receive mental health care receive it in a school setting. Mental health resources in school include trained mental health professionals, but it is important that teachers and other school administrators also look out for and know the signs of students who may be struggling with mental health, because a lot of students are too ashamed or scared to get help themselves. NAMI, which stands for National Alliance of Mental Illness, is an organization that believes public policies and practices should promote greater awareness and early identification of mental illness in students. The goal of NAMI is to help provide more resources for students to help with mental health, as well as to create policies and put practices into place to support mental health. 

Mental health is an important topic to become knowledgeable on as I become a future teacher, because I will have future students who are struggling with mental health issues, and I want to know how to be there to support them. Mental health is also important to me because it is something I have struggled with since I was young. From as early as Preschool, I had horrible anxiety about school. Everything about it scared me, including being separated from my mom and family, eating at school, and using the bathroom at school. One of the things I remember the most, however, was my first grade teacher, Ms. Faison, who was always there to support me with my anxiety. She was calming to me and would help me when I was scared. I hope to be like Ms. Faison to a potential student one day, as I know how much of an impact she had on me. therefore, it is essential that I become as knowledge as I can about signs of mental health struggles, and how to support children with them. I know how much of an impact it can make by addressing mental health struggles at an early age, as this can change the whole trajectory of the lives of these students. Therefore, since I want to be an elementary school teacher, I need to be able to notice and acknowledge these signs of mental health struggles in my future students so that I can help them and provide the best possible future for them.