Mental Illness In Schools

Mental illness can have a lifelong impact on a person. These ailments often appear during teenage years and are more frequent than commonly known. Teenagers often wait years from the onset of symptoms to receive treatment. Many professionals urge schools to either require screenings implement evaluations themselves. School screenings could help identify mental illness that might go undiscovered; these programs are not feasible or sustainable, however, until schools receive more funding and are able to focus less on medicating students. Mental illness, especially depression, often appears during adolescence. However, many teenagers wait years before they receive treatment or diagnosis. This delay can have long term negative impacts. Many professionals

Some schools districts have implemented students and seen positive results. While the federal government does not track school mental health screenings, so it is impossible to know the range of screenings offered around the country, it possible to track specific programs to see their results (Kennedy 7). In Palm Beach County, kindergarteners and first graders are screened through an assessment completed by their teachers. Matthew Palma was one child who was referred to the program’s play sessions; his mother says his confidence has improved dramatically during his participation (Kennedy 20-21). Behavioral Health System Baltimore is an organization that scans children in over a hundred schools and offers individual counseling and therapy for those at risk (Kennedy 15-17). In Olympia Washington, 21,000 students were screened for substance abuse and mental health issues in 2010, a number which dropped to 7,500 in 2012 due to lack of funding. There are a wide range of programs that screen students for mental illness across the country. There is no comprehensive list of programs, but many have seen positive reactions by parents and