City kids want more mental health options
"Many New York City students would like to have someone to whom they can turn," but their schools don't provide mental health services, writes a high school student in an article first published in New Youth Connections and reprinted by the Gotham Gazette. The author, April Daley, writes that kids might be more likely to seek out help if it's available at their schools, but many schools don't have on-campus health centers and even those that do don't always have staff members trained in mental health issues.
Daley also notes that City Council member Gale Brewer and others pressed this year for funding for school health centers and mental health professionals for every school. They were not successful but plan to try again next year.
Does your school have a counselor on staff? What can kids do if they feel, as Daley says is common, like they "need someone to talk to"?
1 comment:
Here in Minnesota our teachers and police officers have noticed that what initially looks like a mental health or discipline problem, can turn out to be a case of child abuse. Teachers often have trouble interpreting the possible signs of abuse (outside of the obvious ones like bruises and scars). We worked with a Minnesota police detective to create an online role-playing course which lets teachers practice a conversation with a possible child abuse victim. What presents itself to teachers as a mental health problem could be a surface indicator of many other things, including child abuse.
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