School officials around the U.S. are searching for the best way to offer mental health services in an underfunded system.
"We have schools screening for all kinds of rare infectious diseases, and then we don't screen for common behavioral disorders that are costly to the individual, the family and society," said Mike Dennis, of Chestnut Health Systems. He teaches clinicians in 49 states how to assess and treat patients with mental illness and substance abuse.
The U.S. Surgeon General reports that 10 percent of children and adolescents suffer from serious emotional and mental disorders that significantly affect their daily lives.
A decade ago, federal health officials recommended universal mental health screenings for students, but it's still not required. An Associated Press review of policies around the nation shows screenings vary widely. There's no consistency on whether the schools screen, at what age they screen and what they screen for.
The federal government does not keep track of school mental health screening, so it's all but impossible to say how many schools offer it. The offerings vary from intensive services to virtually none at all.
"No state is providing high-end services in all of their schools," said Sharon Stephan, co-director of the Center for School Mental Health, a national organization that provides training for schools and mental health providers.
Mental health issues typically start during adolescence, but many people are not diagnosed until later in life when they don't have access to services because they don't have health insurance or their insurance doesn't cover it.
However, offering mental health screening in schools can raise other complex issues. Some warn that mass screenings will over-diagnose students and stigmatize them with a life-long label.
Some say mass screenings could uncover mental health problems that schools lack resources to treat.
"Once we screen and assess and discover the need, I think it's our responsibility to have the resources in place to service every one of those needs that are uncovered," said Denise Wheatley-Rowe, of Behavioral Health System Baltimore.
The organization developed a system that has gained national recognition using a team of school officials and community mental health experts to target students most in need. The program helps nearly 7,000 children a year.
The team identifies children who may need help based on factors like whether they have a parent in prison or who struggles with substance abuse. It also scans data for those struggling academically and behaviorally, including those with high truancy or suspension rates, and then offers individual counseling or family therapy based on the student's need.
What do group members think about the possibility of mental health testing for adult education programs?
Do any of you work in programs that offer such services?
Rochelle Kenyon, SME
Comments
Greetings! I wanted to promote a NAASLN webinar that I will be hosting in February that should be very interesting to adult educators in light of all of the crisis situations occurring through out the US related to mental health issues going untreated.
Mental Health Issues - What to Look For, How to Manage, and When to Call for Help - Two Parts
February 3 & 4, 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM EST
This double session will first offer a basic understanding of mental health: categories of symptoms, treatment, general overall approach to working with individuals with mental health and addiction issues. The second session will target what to do when students demonstrate mental health issues, disclose mental health concerns or conditions, resources, and specific responses to specific situations. Here is a link to the registration page for this two-part webinar: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mental-health-issues-what-to-look-for-how-to-manage-and-when-to-call-for-help-two-parts-february-3-registration-10192759819
As part of the next edition of KET's Adult Learning Quarterly that will be out soon - you may want to look up their interview with me on the topice of Emotions and Learning. This piece is very informative piece and for individuals interested in how emotions effect learning the article will be very helpful in better understanding what impacts a persons learning - or lack thereof.
In addition, NAASLN is also offering a session as a follow-up to the Mental Health Issues webinar:
Academic and Personal Counseling Techniques for Adults with Learning Challenges
February 19, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM EST
Richard Cooper will be doing a follow-up session on counseling individuals with special learning needs: Academic and Personal Counseling Techniques for Adults with Learning Challenges. In this session, Dr. Cooper will be pooling his counseling experiences of working with individuals struggling with learning. Dr. Cooper will give real life examples of students that he has and is currently working with along with their academic, social, and personal challenges that are typical in the adult population we serve. Most importantly, Dr. Cooper will offer a set of recommendations and techniques for knowing how to listen, align, identify underlying issues, and ways to begin resolution while building insight. Here is a link to register for Dr. Cooper's webinar: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/academic-and-personal-counseling-techniques-for-adults-with-learning-challenges-registration-10203162935
Laura Weisel, Ph.D.,
Research and Innovation
The TLP Group, Columbus, OH
dr.weisel@powerpath.com
614.850.8677
I don't think that anyone can argue that good mental health facilitates or at least doesn't impair learning. So our education systems have a vested interest in the subject. However the question of whether Adult Ed should screen for mental health issues seems a question of how Adutl Ed defines itself; as an educational institution or as a clinical one ,or a bit of both. If we agree that people should be screened, do we agree that screening should be done by educational progams? Or is it perhaps more efficient to collaborate with local clinics etc using professionals qualified to assess mental health issues? We don't necessarily want mental health treators to teach adult ed curriculm because thay are not best suited to do so. Why would we want to train adult ed professionals to identify and assess students who exhibit mental health problems?
Postsecondary institutions are grappling with these concerns as is the k-12 system. As I travel around the coutnry meeting with professionals from mental health, and educational institutions the focus is on how to collaborate, maintain ethical and legal boundaries while insuring that students who have demonstrated behaviors or thoughts that are troubling in the educational setting get the assessments and treament they need. I agree with Denise Wheatley-Rowe, we shouldn't be assessing individuals if we can remediate any problems we uncover. A contractual or procdural agreement between Adult Ed and the local mental health community seems a viable route to explore.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your reply. What an interesting question you asked - How does Adult Ed. define itself; as an educational institution or as a clinical one , or as a bit of both?
Do we have any users who can try to answer that question?
Rochelle Kenyon, SME
Rochelle – I think that every education program is both – a clinical setting and an education setting. You really can’t have just one or the other when you are working with humans – no matter what field you are working with that is ‘human driven.’
The upcoming NAASLN webinar that I am hosting:
Mental Health Issues - What to Look For, How to Manage, and When to Call for Help - Two Part Presentation
Monday, February 3 AND Tuesday, February 4, 2014 • 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM EST
3:00 - 4:30 PM CST; 2:00 - 3:30 PM MST; 1:00 - 2:30 PM PST
…has two parts that address both clinical issues/questions and educational issues/questions:
Part I will focus on the clinical aspects of mental health and mental illnesses. The session will cover diagnosis, categories & symptoms of mental illnesses, and the overall research findings about how to support individuals with mental health issues to manage their symptoms and get on with their life.
Part II will now switch to what can educators do and what can programs do to support the mental health issues of the students we serve.
Not surprisingly, there are a lot of mental heath issues that go hand-in-hand with poverty, having a disability, and with having the myriad other learning challenges that appear to carry their own set of emotional baggage.
This part of the session will get specific on how to ask/talk with students about what you are observing (behavior/symptoms), other community agencies or organizations that adult education programs need to be partnering with to help students with emotional issues, and what red flags YOU DON’T WANT TO IGNORE!
Here is a link to register for the upcoming NAASLN webinar that I will be hosting on February 3 & 4:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/mental-health-issues-what-to-look-for-how-to-manage-and-when-to-call-for-help-two-parts-february-3-registration-10192759819
By the way, all registration fees for NAASLN webinars go to support NAASLN and it role in offering low-cost exceptional professional development and in advocating for individual with special learning needs in education, employment and in communities.
My work and research within adult education and behavioral health (mental health and addictions) demonstrate the incredible link between emotions and learning. Be on the lookout for a new Kentucky Education Television’s (KET) upcoming article in which I was interviewed to discuss why emotions and learning can never be separated! I’ll make sure to give this discussion list the web address when the article is published.
Rochelle – I hope you and members of this discussion list will join the NAASLN webinar series that is being offered. By the way, each session has a full half hour of the webinar devoted just to participant questions and concerns! Bring those questions forward along with your ‘I’ve got a student who….’ for a great webinar conversation!