Students will have more access to mental health care under new Biden admin plan
Students could soon have more access to mental health care.
The Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services announced investments into school-based and pediatric mental health care on Monday, Oct. 3. In total, the Biden administration’s new initiatives total more than $300 million.
The Department of Education introduced two new grant programs: School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) and the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration (MHSP) grants, according to a news release. The programs will provide $280 million for schools to up their mental health resources for students, officials said.
The school-based services program will give money to schools to make more mental health care available to students.
“High-need districts” could receive money from MHSP grants to hire more mental health care professionals and boost their resources. The grants could also strengthen the mental health provider pipeline, officials said.
The new funding “will help schools raise the bar for student mental health by recruiting, preparing, hiring and training highly qualified school-based mental health providers, including in underserved communities and for students such as multilingual learners and those from low-income backgrounds and in rural communities, where access to such services can be limited,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in the news release.
“For too long, schools have lacked the resources to hire enough school-based mental health providers, when at the same time, educators are often first to notice when a student is slipping academically or struggling because of mental health challenges,” Cardona said. “We know children and youth can’t do their best learning when they’re experiencing depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges.”
The Department of Health and Human Services also announced a $27 million investment into a new program on Monday.
The Pediatric Mental Health Care Access program will help train pediatricians and other children’s health care providers, according to a news release. The program aims to offer children and teens more timely support by familiarizing providers with treating mental health conditions and providing telehealth options for mental health experts to pediatric primary care providers.
Officials said they hope the program helps alleviate the growing mental health crisis among children.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, up to one in five children between the ages of 3 and 17 dealt with an emotional, behavioral, mental or developmental disorder. That statistic has only been exacerbated by the pandemic, officials said.
“There should be no wrong door when it comes to children accessing the vital mental health services they need. For that to happen, we need to support pediatricians and other health care providers in recognizing and treating mental health conditions,” Health Resources and Services Administration Administrator Carole Johnson said in the news release.
All three programs are funded by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which became law in June. The Department of Health and Human Services also received money from the American Rescue Plan, and the Department of Education received money from the 2022 Fiscal Year Omnibus Appropriations.
This story was originally published October 3, 2022 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Students will have more access to mental health care under new Biden admin plan."
