People of all ages can suffer from mental illnesses, but children and teenagers are especially vulnerable due to their constant changes. Some mental health disorders in teens include those related to anxiety, depression, ADHD, and eating. Each of these disorders has several sub-categories of disorders, each proving to add to the difficult challenges teens have. These challenges could be difficult, such as passing AP classes or as small as getting up for school in the mornings. People never know what goes on in your life unless you tell them. Most adults can get access to a therapist or someone to help with their mental situation. Kids and teens get some help from schools, but it isn’t enough. Schools need to offer more resources and support relating to mental health.
One problem with students having mental health issues and not being able to get help from home can be because parents have work or other tasks to attend to. These parents might not have the time to take their child to a therapist or even know the first thing to help with mental health. Mental health resources and support are extremely important. These students need support that they may not have outside of school. An article titled “Mental Health of Children and Parents- A Strong Connection” states, “Caring for children can create challenges for parents, particularly if they lack resources and support, which can have a negative effect on a parent’s mental health.”
The article states that a parent’s mental health can suffer when they don’t have the support they need to keep their family afloat. This issue can affect the children they are so desperately trying to support.
These students may need more support than ever before, as shown by the article, “Parents and children may also experience shared risks, such as inherited vulnerabilities, living in unsafe environments, and facing discrimination or deprivation.” These students now more than ever need the support that the schools can offer. If they don’t get the help they need based on their needs, their mental health will decline even more.
With poor mental health, students’ grades can greatly suffer if they are not taken care of. This could also influence a kid’s attendance because if their grades are low, they may not see a point in attending, which could cause them to stop showing up. If these students stop showing up, they can’t use the help that the school offers.
An article titled “Consequences of Student Mental Health Issues” found at sprc.org says, “Research suggests that depression is associated with lower grade point averages and that co-occurring depression and anxiety can increase this association.” This is a correlation.
The same article also provides results from a survey done back in 2015 by the American College Health Association, which has a few percentages on different mental health issues that negatively impacted their academic performance within the last 12 months, which are as follows: “Stress (30% of students), anxiety (22%), sleep difficulties (20%), and depression (14%).”
These numbers have most prominently increased in the past few years due to the challenges that people have faced. Kids and teens have especially been hit hard because they are at a delicate time in their lives, and poor mental health can cause severe issues in their lives.
Having people at schools who know how to diagnose a mental illness can help these students figure out the help they need. If these students are shown things about mental health when they’re younger, then they’ll have more information as well as a better understanding of what mental health is and the issues with it.
In the article titled “The Landscape of School-Based Mental Health Services” by Ninnita Panchal, Cynthia Cox, and Robin Rudowitz, they say, “Only one-third (34%) of schools provide outreach services, which includes mental health screenings for all students.” This isn’t a majority of schools—only 34%—that’s not even half, and with how many schools there are, there aren’t a lot of students getting this service.
Panchal, Cox, and Rudowitz also say, “These universal behavioral health screenings are considered a best practice and allow for schools to better identify all students with needs and tailor services to their specific student population.” Mental health services are limited because one of the best tools provided to help narrow down the needs of students isn’t used by most schools. Most schools have at least one form of mental health service, but they aren’t enough.
Even with overwhelming evidence for the need for more mental health services for students, a major roadblock can be a lack of funding. After all, funding the mental health needs of the students can be copious amounts of money; however, Panchal, Cox, and Rudowitz found in their research that “School mental health services are supported through multiple sources of funding at the national, state, and local level.” So if all of this funding contributes to mental health, why don’t we have better services in the schools? Where is all the money going? Panchal, Cox, and Rudowitz also say that “Just over half of schools reported receiving funding for mental health services from district or schools funds (57%) or federal grants or programs (52%), while smaller shares of schools reported funding from partnerships with organizations (37%) or state programs (32%).” This means that these schools are given funding, but there aren’t a large number of changes in the system.
The mental health services provided for kids and teens alike are not enough. Serious changes need to be made before they suffer for it. These changes need to start now, both small and large before society can no longer function with these mental health issues.
