#17 Opinion (State, National, and International Issue)

 

    In Kansas City, Kansas, people are starting to put on after-school mental health care groups for students who are struggling with mental problems. The educators that are helping put on these care groups are school counselors and social workers. They are also setting up care teams where they are educated on seeing the signs of students struggling with mental problems in kids that are too afraid to say anything to anyone. 

    While there is coronavirus money still being handed out, schools are working as fast as they can to use this money towards helping kids that are struggling with mental health. 

    It is not out of the question that covid could be one of the reasons that some of these kids are having problems. Most of these kids are returning to school for the first time since last spring and they don't know how to react. It is leading to some students acting out, being absent from school, or even just students not being the same happy kid they were the school year before. 

    For some schools, this money has given them the ability to create long-term systems that will be able to help these current students and also students to come. Other schools have used this money to treat, counsel, and help them to detect these problems. 

    In the last month, three major pediatric groups have said that children's mental health should be taken more seriously and be considered a national emergency. They have said that not all but a lot of children's mental health issues have stemmed from the pandemic. U.S. educational departments are using this money to help these students with these issues the best they can.

    The total money put into this project is $190 Billion. This has gone towards educating the staff, wellness screenings, and social-emotional learning. More than four times of this money has gone straight to students K-12.

    Katie Dockweiler and others have some concerns about the privacy of the students, how these efforts will still be in place once this money is gone, and the effectiveness of these efforts. Dockweiler feels as if there should be a way to track the improvement of the students because if they aren't seeing improvement then they just assume that they are throwing money away.

    School psychologists have been a big purchase for most schools. Hiring mental health specialists is a big step for a lot of schools. This gives students someone to be able to talk to and know that their information will not be leaked to anyone else. Along with school psychologists, schools are also on the hunt for social workers and counselors. 

    Personally, I believe that the U.S. is putting this money to good use. I don't think that people realize how many mental health problems people have. Mental health is not something that should be ignored. I think that hiring workers into the school system like psychologists is a great idea. I understand the concerns of those who feel like their money won't be put to good use but there can always be a system that can be implemented in order to keep track of the efforts.