Mental Health Services in Our Schools

There is a growing and unmet need for mental health services for children and youth throughout the community.  Examples of issues seen in the school setting include: stress, anxiety, bullying, family problems, depression, learning disabilities and alcohol/substance abuse.  Serious mental health problems, such as self-injurious behaviors and suicide are on the rise, particularly among youth.  Nationally, numerous school shootings have been linked to untreated mental health issues.

We have learned that schools are an ideal place to provide mental health services.  Through school professionals who all know the students, parents and staff, identification of students/families in most need can be done effectively.  As a result of these connections between school resources and our Bellin Psychiatric Center resources, students who had been unable to access or did not have the personal/family support available to gain access to traditional outpatient mental health services are now able to receive these vital services in their school.  There are no longer the previous barriers to access treatment, such as students missing school and parents missing work for the student’s mental health appointments.

Our school based mental health services program was the beneficiary of the 2019 Black Tie Blue Jean event.