Sadie Ikeda

6° AP Language

27 March 2019

How Schools Can Help Kids in Crisis

Today’s school-aged youth are in mental health crisis across the nation. The Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that, out of the 50-plus million public school

students in the United States, as many as one in five shows signs of a mental health condition

(NPR). That’s at least ten million students who need support. Even more alarming, teen deaths

by suicide have spiked dramatically in America. In California, according to a 2017 survey by the

California Department of Education, public school staff—those who work directly with students

on a daily basis—categorize student depression or other mental health issues as a “significant”

problem for 57 percent of California elementary school students, 78 percent of middle school

students, and 87 percent of high school students (Kidsdata Staff Report). In Marin County, seven

youth between the ages of 10 and 19 reportedly committed suicide from 2013 to 2017 (Halstead).

Right here in Novato, two high school students took their own lives within days of one another in

late 2018, and another took his own life in February of 2019.

Communities are mourning, students and parents are begging for help, and teachers are

feeling desperate. They’re showing up at school board meetings with impassioned pleas for

districts to do ​something.​ However, current education reform still fails to address this blatant

mental health crisis. Adelman and Taylor, authors of ​Mental Health in Schools, c​ laim that school

leaders, “in their rush to raise test scores,” keep​ ​intensifying and narrowing matters of school

​ hat’s not
improvement to discussions of curriculum, instruction, and classroom discipline (36).​ T

what the country needs, and it’s not what California needs in the face of hurting and dying
students. California needs to adopt mandatory mental wellness education in K-12 public schools

to address the current youth mental health crisis.

School-aged youth have always struggled, as portrayed in countless books and movies

documenting the many challenges of childhood and coming of age. Youth has always been an

emotionally turbulent time filled with self-consciousness, insecurity, and angst. There are

pressures to fit in, gain peer acceptance, and find one’s place within a changing social hierarchy.

Youth have always grappled with issues such as bullying, hormone changes, emerging sexuality,

racial tensions, parent divorce, socio-economic stigma, and more. However, previous generations

generally came through childhood safely and could reasonably expect to be as or more successful

than their parents, financially and otherwise.

The current generation of school-aged youth faces all those same challenges, as well as

additional pressures, fears, and threats like never before. They cope with high-stakes testing, a

fiercely competitive college admission process, and the likelihood of facing crippling college

debt. They live in fear of school shootings and are exposed to increasingly polarizing politics and

a continuous news cycle of sexism, racism, and bigotry. They see climate change threatening the

planet. Some experience added burdens of family trauma, poverty and homelessness, and

immigration worries.

Known appropriately as “iGen” (those born between approximately 1995 and 2013), this

generation of youth has grown up with the convenience, distraction, and stressor of a device

nearly always in hand. Smartphones provide news and information and capture photos and video

for posterity—for better or worse. Instant messaging allows for round-the-clock communication

but adds the potential for cyberbullying; social media provides a creative outlet for expression

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but can also amplify drama, publicize humiliation, and contribute to feelings of self-doubt and

isolation. Today’s youth enjoys 24/7 connectivity yet often lacks genuine, human connection.

These types of challenges may well be contributing to the at least ten million American

youth with mental health disorders. “A mental health disorder is a condition that disrupts a

person’s mood, thought or behavior, often for a long period of time” (NPR). This includes

depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), eating disorders, autism

spectrum, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more. The statistics for teen depression

alone are staggering. A Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine study shows that the rate

of adolescents experiencing major depression jumped nearly 40 percent from 2005 to 2014,

leading to an estimated 2.2 million depressed American children ages 12 to 17 (Vestal).

According to the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), one in eight California teens

reported a major depressive episode between 2014 and 2015, up from one in eleven between

2011 and 2012. Students are suffering.

“One in five students in this country need treatment…[but] nearly eighty percent won’t

receive counseling. Or therapy. Or medication. They won’t get any treatment at all,” says Dr.

David Anderson, senior director of the Child Mind Institute’s ADHD and Behavior Disorders

Center (Walker). All too many are numbing themselves with alcohol, nicotine, pharmaceuticals,

marijuana, and other street drugs such as methamphetamines, heroin, and cocaine. The CHCF

reports that teen mental illnesses and substance abuse often occur together. As many as 60

percent to 75 percent of adolescent substance abusers are estimated to have a co-occurring

mental illness. In some cases, the report continues, “substance use may begin as a strategy for

self-medicating to manage psychiatric symptoms” (CHCF).

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 Kids are also killing themselves in staggering numbers. Among boys ages 15 to 19, the

suicide death rate increased by nearly one third between 2007 and 2015; among girls the same

age, it more than doubled in that time (Vestal). According to CHCF, one in nine high school girls

in California attempted suicide in 2015. However, these statistics only account for actual suicide

deaths;​ for instance, nine percent of American youths in grades 9 through 12 ​attempted ​suicide

in 2014 alone. Surely there are plenty of attempts that go unreported as well.

If at least ten million American youth are in crisis, and 90 percent of American youth go

to public school (according to Stephen Brock, a professor and school psychology program

coordinator at California State University, Sacramento) (Protherto), then public school seems

like the most logical and ideal place to address that crisis.

Whether they want to be or not, teachers are the first line of defense because they see

troubled youth every day. In ​Edutopia,​ high school teacher David Tow writes about the trauma

of learning that a former student had committed suicide. “​I was flooded with the expected surge

of feelings: overwhelming sadness, periodic despair, compulsive frame-by-frame replays of our

every interaction…. I was haunted, too—I still am—by the fear of a similar tragedy among my

raw-nerved and anxious students.​” He says he deals with student depression “almost daily,” and

constantly worries about those he thinks “might be toeing the line of self-harm.” ​His article,

intended for teachers, highlights the classroom strategies that have worked for him in promoting

high school wellbeing.

In ​NEA Today,​ high school teacher Melodie Henderson recounts her own frustration

when she didn’t know how to help a distressed student who began sobbing uncontrollably during

class. She began to research best practices and interventions and created a professional

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development conference workshop for educators “looking for basic information, tips, and

strategies on ways to create a better learning atmosphere for students who have a mental illness.”

Tow and Henderson, like countless other teachers around the country, are witnessing

firsthand the youth mental health crisis in their classrooms. They care deeply, and they are

desperate to find and share tools to make a difference. “Teachers see students every day…[but

they] have almost no mental health training,” says Child Mind Institute’s Dr. Anderson (NPR).

School is where youth mental health issues are most evident, and thus school is where mental

health wellness education needs to happen.

Schools can’t fulfill their mission without mentally healthy students. In 2018, the Novato

Unified School District adopted the tagline “Engage. Inspire. Empower.” However, students in

mental health crises aren’t likely to be readily engaged, inspired, or empowered. Teachers simply

can’t teach effectively when mental health disorders make learning nearly impossible. “Mental

health in schools must be embedded into the basic mission of schools,” argue authors Adelman

and Taylor in ​Mental Health in Schools, b​ ecause mental health is fundamental to achieving

academic success (75). A 2014 study by the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools

supports this line of thinking by indicating that when schools proactively address mental

wellness, “improvements include increased on-task learning behavior, better time management,

strengthened goal setting and problem-solving skills, and decreased rates of absenteeism and

suspensions” (Walker).

Mental wellness education is most effective when it starts as early as kindergarten and

continues throughout schooling. All too many schools wait for tragedy and then go into

reactionary mode, deploying counselors to campuses for a period of time following a student’s

suicide or a school shooting. Districts tend to “focus on crisis management as opposed to early

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identification, prevention, and routine care,” claims Tim Walker in ​NEA Today. “​We can’t wait

until a student is at a crisis state. Like diabetes or cancer, you should never wait until stage four

to intervene,” echoes Theresa Nguyen of Mental Health America (Walker).​ ​Districts could

potentially save lives by promoting K-12 mental wellness education.

Students should be taught from an early age what mental wellness looks and feels like.

“Mentally healthy children and adolescents develop the ability to experience a range of

emotions...in appropriate and constructive ways; possess positive self-esteem and a respect for

others; and harbor a deep sense of security and trust in themselves and the world,” according to

authors Adelman and Taylor (16). Age-appropriate school-based mental wellness programs can

help kids build coping skills, develop empathy and compassion, foster inclusion, manage

expectations, handle setbacks and grow from failures, and grow into resilient, independent

adults. Programs that encourage kids to talk openly about mental health could also minimize

stigma surrounding mental health. “The hope is that [children] will learn how to recognize early

symptoms in themselves and their friends and seek help before a crisis develops,” says Paul

Gionfriddo, president and CEO of Mental Health America (Vestal).

Mental wellbeing is no less vital than physical wellbeing, and physical education is

already mandated in California public schools. Unlike current PE or health classes, however,

mental wellness doesn’t require separate, devoted classes. “Schools should provide basic

mental-health support to all students, such as universal depression screenings from kindergarten

through 12th grade,” says Ariana Protherto, in ​Education Week.​ “The idea is to head off

mental-health issues in students early before they metastasize into more serious problems,” she

argues, by focusing on prevention, wellness, and building coping skills.

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 Two states are already leading the way by mandating mental wellness education in public

schools, according to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). New York began offering an

online mental health resource center and free training services for teachers, and by the fall of

2018, New York public school teachers are asked to “incorporate the topic of mental illness into

subjects such as science, literature, history and social studies whenever possible...and health

teachers [are] called on to develop lesson plans that describe the disease of mental illness,

methods of treating it, and healthy coping techniques students can use to protect themselves and

their friends from the mounting pressures of school life” (Vestal). Starting in fall of 2018,

Virginia 9th- and 10th-graders participate in “​a statewide educational program [to] explain the

brain science behind mental illness, help students lear​n how to improve their own mental

wellbeing, and reduce the stigma around mental health” (Vestal). Both programs are too new to

show documented results. One could reasonably argue, though, that the New York mandate is

too vague and open to interpretation and that the Virginia mandate, by limiting to only 9th and

10th grades, offers too little too late. However, both states offer more than what California

currently offers in the way of mandated mental wellness education in public schools: nothing at

all.

Some might claim it’s not the job of schools to address student mental illness, and that

schools simply don’t have the resources to do so. It’s true that California teachers are already

overburdened and not currently equipped to incorporate mental wellness education into their

curriculum. It’s also true that California schools are notoriously underfunded.

However, state-mandated public school wellness education would not require any new

course offerings. Rather, it would require the natural incorporation of emotional wellness into

every class at every grade level. With adequate new teacher training and professional

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development opportunities for current teachers, argues Tim Walker in ​NEA Today,​ school mental

wellness programs could integrate effective social and emotional learning competencies into

existing curriculum. Done right, mental wellness education would be a way of life in every

classroom, including math, science, English, the arts, and so forth. And, as established, teachers

are already begging for this support, and school districts cannot meet their missions without it.

The addition of mental wellness education to new-teacher training and professional

development offerings would no doubt require the allocation of resources to already financially

strapped districts. But proactive mental wellness education programs may well save districts

money by boosting student attendance rates and minimizing interventions and the need for

crisis-level counseling after tragedy (Walker).

In March of 2019, the ​Visalia Times-Delta​ reported on a Visalia Unified School District

special meeting where parents and teachers expressed outrage, frustration, and overwhelm with

widespread classroom disruptions caused by students with mental instability. Visalia Unified

Teachers’ Association president Greg Price spoke up to say, “There are a lot of tears on the

phone to me...a lot of [teachers] call me and tell me, ‘I can’t go to work tomorrow...it’s too

insane in my classroom.’ Part of our problem is schools are falling apart now. Teachers are

falling apart now. Classrooms are in crisis.” A month prior, just days after yet another district

high schooler committed suicide, students, community members, teachers and trustees spoke at a

Novato Unified School District board meeting. They pleaded for Novato schools to take action

toward student mental wellbeing. Perhaps schools could have helped that student—and the peers,

teachers and community members who loved him—had California enacted mandatory mental

wellness education years ago.

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 Nearly every student, teacher, administrator and parent would agree with what the

statistics confirm: there’s an undeniably serious youth mental health problem. If California

public schools want to equip and empower kids to become graduates who succeed and thrive as

adults, then California needs to adopt mandatory mental wellness education in K-12 public

schools. Schools are the most obvious place to tackle the problem, and school-based mental

wellness education programs should start as early as kindergarten and continue through 12th

grade. The most effective programs will be integrated into all curriculum by caring teachers who

have already proven their commitment to playing an integral role in the solution to today’s youth

mental health crisis.

California school districts are determined to improve schools by reducing dropout rates,

closing the achievement gap, and addressing racial, ethnic, disability, and socioeconomic

disparities...but if they can’t even help keep students alive and healthy, none of these education

initiatives matter. Youth mental wellness should be the number one initiative of California’s

public schools.

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 Works Cited

Adelman, Howard S. and Linda Taylor. ​Mental Health in Schools: Engaging Learners,

Preventing Problems, and Improving Schools.​ New York: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.,

2015.

Cederloff, Calley. “Visalia schools face ‘crisis’ as students ‘rage’ without discipline.” Visalia,

CA:​ Visalia Times-Delta.​ 08 Mar. 2019,

https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/2019/03/08/visalia-schools-face-crisis-as-s

tudents-rage-under-pbis-without-discipline/3098350002/​. Accessed 10 Mar. 2019.

CHCF (California Health Care Foundation). “Mental Health and Substance Use: A Crisis for

California’s Youth.”​ ​Sacramento, California. 03 Dec. 2018,

https://www.chcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/AlmanacMentalHealthSUDYouth.pdf​.

Accessed 24 Feb. 2019.

Halstead, Richard. “Marin mother who lost her son to suicide pleads for early intervention.”​ San

Rafael, CA: Marin Independent Journal. 04 Aug. 2018,

https://www.marinij.com/2018/08/04/marin-mother-who-lost-son-to-suicide-pleads-for-e

arly-intervention/​. Accessed 10 Mar. 2019.

Kidsdata Staff Report. “Student Depression or Mental Health Is a Problem at School.” Palo Alto,

CA: Kidsdata, A Program of Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health.

2013-2015,

https://www.kidsdata.org/topic/1823/student-depression-problem-staff-reported/table​.

Accessed 08 Mar. 2019.

NPR. “A Silent Epidemic.” Washington, D.C.: NPR Website.​ 07 Sep. 2016,

http://apps.npr.org/mental-health/​. Accessed 24 Feb. 2019.

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Protherto, Ariana. “Why Principals Need to Make Student Mental Health a Priority.” Bethesda,

MD: ​Education Week.​ 16 Oct. 2018,

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/10/17/why-principals-need-to-make-student-m

ental.html​. Accessed 07 Mar. 2019.

Tow, David. “In High School, the Kids Are Not Alright.” Marin County, California: ​Edutopia,

George Lucas Educational Foundation. 07 Mar. 2018,

https://www.edutopia.org/article/high-school-kids-are-not-all-right​. Accessed 14 Feb.

2019.

Vestal, Christine. “States Begin Requiring Mental Health Education in Schools.” Arlington,

Virginia: NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Virginia. 23 June. 2018,

https://namivirginia.org/states-begin-requiring-mental-health-education-schools/​.

Accessed 23 Feb. 2019.

Walker, Tim. “Are Schools Ready to Tackle the Mental Health Crisis?” Washington, DC: ​NEA

Today, ​National Education Association, 13 Sept. 2018,

http://neatoday.org/2018/09/13/mental-health-in-schools/​. Accessed 14 Feb. 2019.

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