(The Center Square) – A researcher for Washington State University is part of a team that found 51.8% of school districts reported providing assessments for mental health disorders. The college used this finding to support calls for the Washington Legislature to fund increased mental health services.
The study, with WSU College of Nursing Associate Professor Janessa Graves as its first author, was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. It further clarified that slightly over half of school districts were set up for assessment, not treatment.
The number of school districts offering treatment for mental health issues drops to only 38.3% of schools. Rural school districts were disproportionately unlikely to offer either assessment or treatment.
“In Washington state, funding for school support staff is based on student numbers,” a news release accompanying the study’s publication explained. “For a school to get funding for one full-time nurse it would have to have around 5,000 to 7,000 students. That means a small, rural school with only 150 students would receive funding for a tiny fraction of a nurse position.”
Graves made the appeal for funding even more explicit.
“I think we really need to support our schools more,” she said in a statement. “By providing these services to our kids, we are giving them tools in their toolkit to be able to get through life a little more smoothly. And we’re also serving our communities better at the same time.”
The study, based on the School Survey on Crime and Safety for the 2017-18 school year, is working with the most recent published data. The researchers said they intend to re-run their analysis with a forthcoming report based on 2020 data to look for any new trends in student mental health, given COVID-19.
The study’s authors are particularly interested to see the impact on availability of services due to tele-health being normalized throughout the pandemic.
As a rural Washington resident herself, Graves said she hopes the study will allow Washington policymakers to better advocate for rural schools to help reduce the disparity in access to mental health care.
