Mental Health Matters Lauren Kazee, LMSW Mental Health Consultant Michigan Dept of Education Coordinated School Health and Safety Programs Michigan Dept of Community Health Child and Adolescent Health Centers Program

Making the case… Rates of absenteeism and tardiness are much higher for students with mental health disturbance (Gall, 2000)

Making the case… Emotional, behavioral and social difficulties diminish the capacity of children to learn and benefit from the educational process (Rones & Hoagwood, 2000)

Making the case… Research shows that increased physical, social and emotional well- being can improve academic performance. “Health & Academics: Making the Link” Massachusetts Department of Education, 2000

Making the case…  Approximately 20% of children and adolescents suffer from a mental illness resulting in mild functional impairments  An estimated 10% have moderate to severe impairments (Duchnowski, Kutash, & Friedman, 2002; Power, Eiralkdi, Clarke, Mazzuca & Krain, 2005)

How does Mental Health affect Academic Achievement?

In West Virginia:  13% of children have a Serious Emotional Disorder (52,000 WV children)  30-40% of teenagers are experiencing depression  20% of children have a diagnosable mental disorder (80,000 WV children) Source: WV Behavioral Health Commission, 2007

How does WV compare? WV ranked 7th in the nation with an overall suicide rate of per 100,000 people. (CDC 2007).WV ranked 7th in the nation with an overall suicide rate of per 100,000 people. (CDC 2007). WV suicides among youth ages , ranks 11 th in the nation with a rate of per 100,000, compared to the national rate of 9.76 per 100,000 youth.WV suicides among youth ages , ranks 11 th in the nation with a rate of per 100,000, compared to the national rate of 9.76 per 100,000 youth.

Youth Risk Behavior Survey CDC 2007 Percentage of students who seriously considered attempting suicide during the 12 months before the survey. YearWVUS Percentage of students who carried a weapon 1 day during the last 30 days before the survey. YearWVUS Percentage of students who attempted suicide one or more times during the 12 months before the survey. YearWVUS

Limited resources:  Less than 50% of children with a mental illness receive adequate (if any) services, especially children with minority status (Kataoka, Zhang, & Wells, 2002; Leaf et. al., 1996)  20% of students received mental health services in schools-most of them provided by school counselors, school psychologists or school social workers. (SAMHSA, 2005)

Limited resources:  Community Mental Health primarily serves children with severe emotional disturbances.  Role of school counselors and school social workers has shifted. Their jobs have evolved into providing career and college guidance, making class schedules, increasing support for special education students.  There is a gap in services for children and youth with mild to moderate mental health needs.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

Goals of SEL Programming to promote students’ social-emotional skills positive attitudes, lead to improved adjustment academic performance as reflected:  in more positive social behaviors,  fewer conduct problems,  less emotional distress,  better grades and achievement test scores.

Demonstrated Impact of SEL Interventions  Raising school grades  Standardized Achievement test scores -Gains of 11 to 17 percentile points on achievement tests  Effective for racially and ethnically diverse students from urban, rural, and suburban settings across the K-12 grade range.  Improve students’ social-emotional skills, attitudes about self and others, connection to school, and positive social behavior; and reduce conduct problems and emotional distress.

Demonstrated Impact of SEL Interventions

SEL programs offer students a practical educational benefit

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