MA Schools Battle Teen Mental Health Crisis

Massachusetts is confronting a significant mental health crisis among adolescents, with one in six teens experiencing major depressive episodes annually. School budgets are strained by increasing healthcare, transportation, and special education costs, exacerbating the problem. To address this, the state has allocated grants to enhance professional development for teachers, enabling them to better support students' mental and behavioral health needs.

These grants will also bolster partnerships with community organizations to expand access to essential services outside of school settings. A portion of the funds is earmarked for software to track service utilization. However, advocates like Pamela Sager of the Parent Professional Advocacy League note that the grants, while promising, are insufficient, covering continued mental health services for only 14 percent of districts and barely funding one additional counselor per awardee.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education plans to pilot a universal mental health questionnaire for student screening, aiming to identify individual needs across all public schools. Haverhill Public Schools will receive $45,000 to strengthen community ties and implement substance abuse education. Despite these efforts, the state faces a school psychologist to student ratio worse than recommended, with 59,000 adolescents experiencing serious thoughts of suicide annually.