A new report was shared with the Berkeley School Board last week outlining recommendations for the district to improve its mental health services as students’ mental health needs increase.
In recent years, young people across the country have started to struggle more with mental health issues, and the problem is growing in Berkeley. Students are more likely to experience increased anxiety, avoid school and be chronically absent, a trend that began well before the pandemic and has worsened since then, the report said.
After a Berkeley High School student died by suicide last year, students began advocating for more mental health resources in schools.
The report was commissioned as part of a $2.5 million state grant awarded in 2022. it was It was designed to address these challenges and improve Berkeley’s mental health services.
The findings, based on nearly 200 interviews with students, families and staff, provide 20 recommendations to improve Berkeley Unified’s mental health services. The study was conducted by the RDA consulting firm, which also works with the City of Berkeley’s mental health department.
read complete report
The data shared in the report is surprising.
One in five BUSD 11th graders surveyed during the 2021-22 school year said they had seriously considered suicide in the past year. Almost half of the 11th graders said they felt hopeless for several weeks and stopped engaging in normal activities. For younger students, the number of students struggling is only slightly lower. Data comes from: California Healthy Children Study.
The need to provide more preventive services than just crisis management is at the top of the list of recommendations.
The report creates a universal screener to identify students at risk of developing mental health problems early, before the situation turns into a crisis, and helps students develop their mental health in class. We recommend that you ensure that you have the time and space to do so.
The report also recommends that BUSD take immediate action to:
- Develop a strategic plan that includes a definition of mental health and a process to incorporate feedback from the community.
- Assess how much money each school spends on mental health per student.
- Further assess trends in increased school avoidance, absenteeism, and anxiety.
Families interviewed for mental health needs assessments repeatedly stated that there was insufficient support for students with less severe mental health issues. There is a nationwide shortage of mental health therapists..
This report includes some bright spots.
Berkeley High School has a health center with four full-time therapists serving students with Medi-Cal insurance, a program supervisor, and multiple counseling interns (three this year). Masu. Each elementary school in the district now has a counselor, an improvement over last year when several schools had part-time counselors. It plans to hire a counselor specializing in substance use.
Students with private insurance may receive up to four counseling sessions at the BHS Health Center. As of this year, Berkeley High School has opened a new wellness center, but it is not yet fully operational.
The health center also runs several support groups, including a group for students who have recently arrived in the country and a group for LGBTQ people.
Although these services exceed those provided in many California school districts, the report says the need for mental health care remains significant.
Another positive the report found is that individual teachers are already teaching students social-emotional skills and several parents are engaging mental health advocates.
“One of the things they recognized as our strength was that many of our staff members already looked after the mental health and wellbeing of our students, but did not have the necessary training to do so. It means they feel like they don’t have it,” says Rosina Keren. The district’s mental health coordinator said this at a school information session on Sept. 20.
However, students and families interviewed for the report said they were unable to access services when they needed them unless they were experiencing a mental health crisis.
“[I] I sent my child to a health center and was told they couldn’t help her unless she was actively suicidal. What she got was that even if she tried to commit suicide, she could get help,” one parent told a needs assessment interviewer.
Other families emphasized the need to hire more diverse counselors, especially men, LGBTQ people, and people of color, who can empathize with students’ diverse experiences.
According to the report, “Families of color experience a lack of focus on services and supports that respect the diversity of student backgrounds and experiences, which perpetuates a culture of exclusion and inequality.” “We loudly shared that we are working together,” he said.
The last time a mental health needs assessment was conducted was in 2017. Some aspects have been improved. BUSD has hired Rosina Cullen, a mental health coordinator, who will be responsible for managing the district’s mental health services. Additionally, all elementary schools now have a full-time counselor and care navigator, Carol Perez, to support students with more severe mental health needs and help families access services outside of school. We support.
But some of today’s issues are the same as those outlined six years ago. There is a lack of sufficient resources to support students before a crisis occurs, and there is a need for better information and support for students to learn about available services.
