Mental health for children, teenagers and young adults

Therefore, depending on availability of specific staff in a particular school (or school district), leaders may leverage the expertise of counselors, psychologists, nurses, or social workers when implementing structures to collaborate with families and community organizations in support of student mental health. Mau et al. (2016), for example, found that high school counselors spent about 50% of their time providing direct intervention to students, but only a quarter of direct intervention time focused on personal or school problems—the majority of interventions focused on college, career, and academic development. Findings suggested that school counselors, school nurses, and school social workers spend more time implementing interventions (e.g., direct services), while school psychologists spend more time conducting assessments (e.g., screening and individual evaluations) and providing consultation (e.g., problem-solving and data teams). In contrast, the school counseling standards discussed restricted use of assessment and tiered support principles (i.e., only within the context of school counseling programs) and emphasized making referrals to other school- and community-based providers for students with long-term mental health needs. Finally, standards for school nursing, psychology, and social work included training on assessing and identifying mental health disabilities, facilitating the implementation of a tiered support system, and providing mental health services for students identified within Tier 3 (i.e., those with indicated mental health needs).

Goals of a School Counseling Program

School mental health professionals who are culturally competent are better equipped to understand and appreciate their students’ unique experiences. The New Hampshire issue brief lists a sobering array of ways in which un- or undertreated mental health issues can affect students in school. More than 40% of students had considered dropping out in the past six months, with most citing emotional stress and personal mental health as the reason.6 That’s a tall order for any individual or departmental staff, but the need for mental health support in education settings continues to grow. The programme also allows schools to identify children who may need additional support.

Our mental health services in our partner schools

For example, school counselor responsibilities related to non-counseling duties (e.g., test coordination; Wilder, 2018) may be shifted toward supporting student mental health (DeKruyf et al., 2013). Whenever possible, gambling schools should coordinate the unique expertise of specific professionals to efficiently meet the mental health needs of students. Similarly, each profession shares competencies in mental health counseling; thus, schools facing staff shortages can utilize the skills of diverse SMH professionals to meet the increasing mental health needs of youth, particularly post-COVID (Mojtabai & Olfson, 2020; Racine et al., 2021).

Grants and programs

• To be included, studies were required to focus on SBMHS and to have been conducted through a collaboration of school staff together with staff from social services and/or health-care services.
• Helping students successfully navigate the challenges of school, both inside and outside the classroom, requires an approach that addresses several key strategies.
• However, barriers to efficient SMH service provision arise due to (a) fragmented service delivery across providers (Weist et al., 2012) and (b) budgetary constraints and workforce shortages (Whitaker et al., 2019).
• Partnerships like these are essential in enhancing school climate and fostering student resilience.8

Finally, school nurses were observed to most frequently engage in indirect and medication-related mental health services; the provision of direct mental health services and assessment were ranked lowest (Bohnenkamp et al., 2015). While nearly three-quarters of school psychologists reported providing mental health consultation, only a third reported providing direct mental health services. Three additional studies provided insight into the specific mental health responsibilities of three of the four SMH professions (no studies of school social workers were identified). Both studies concluded SMH professionals would prefer to be engaged in more mental health services than they currently are conducting.

We focus on these four disciplines because they (a) have professional, often graduate-level training in supporting the mental health of students; (b) are typically certified at the national- and/or state-level; and (c) are frequently identified in SMH policy and guidance (see, e.g., Cowan et al., 2013; Every Student Succeeds Act ESSA, 2015). Although SMH services engage a wide range of professionals, national shortages of SMH providers mean that schools often face supply shortages of qualified SMH practitioners (Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA, 2015). Second, national workforce shortages and limited funding to hire and train professionals mean that schools have difficulty staffing—and subsequently implementing—comprehensive SMH services (Shelton & Owens, 2021). When these key features occur, schools are able to deliver services in a comprehensive and coordinated manner that reduces disparities and responds to the diversity of students and families. SMH services refer to a continuum of supports and interventions designed to prevent, identify, and treat student mental health challenges and to promote student wellbeing and success.