To Address the Teen Mental Health Crisis, Look to School Nurses

[riversedge]

The bill discussed in the article was introduced over a year ago. It is just sitting in some committee it seems.



H.R.305 - One School, One Nurse Act of 2023 118th Congress (2023-2024)
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/305/text?s=1&r=1&q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22%5C%22school+nurse%5C%22%22%5D%7D




Bill Overview
Sponsor: Rep. Wilson, Frederica S. [D-FL-24] (Introduced 01/11/2023)
Committees: House - Education and the Workforce; Energy and Commerce
Latest Action: House - 01/20/2023 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. (All Actions)
Tracker: Tip

This bill has the status Introduced

Here are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Introduced






To Address the Teen Mental Health Crisis, Look to School Nurses



https://time.com/6975013/teen-mental-health-school-nurse/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
It’s a deadly time to be a teenager. The most recent CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey reports that in 2021, more than one-fifth of high schoolers seriously considered committing suicide. Worse, 10% tried. Even without pandemic data, rates of youth depression almost doubled over the past decade, making youth mental health a current top priority for the U.S. Surgeon General.

There are already people on the front lines to combat this teen mental health crisis: school nurses, the trusted healthcare professionals who provide holistic care for every student’s physical and mental wellbeing. But because our culture routinely separates mental health from physical health care, school nurses are commonly overlooked when funding is recommended to increase school behavioral health staff. Additionally, since school nurse positions are rarely protected by mandates, their services are too often the first to be cut when trimming education budgets. And yet, history shows that school absenteeism declines, and the collective health of our nation improves, when schools employ nurses. That remains true as we ask questions about how to address the mental health crisis youth face today.



The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory Report recommends the expansion of school-based mental health workforce through federal funds to increase staff, including nurses. Full-time nurses currently cover only 65.7% of public schools. Passing the One School, One Nurse Act, a bill that would provide every public school in America with a full-time RN, would be a cost-effective, equitable, and efficient way to shore up the remaining front line. When school nurses have proven themselves time and time again as integral to combating public health emergencies, why turn away from them now? School nurses are the "vaccine" needed to target the youth mental health crisis, and every student deserves access to one.
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[JT45242]

1. If only schools all had nurses...and psychiatric nurses are not getting school certified

Generally, most districts are only required to have 1 certified school nurse in the district and individul buildings are able to have nurses aides (often not even full time or split between multiple buildings).

Additionally, it takes a lot of extra training to be a psychiatric nurse and those nurses rarely if ever would work for the pittance of pay that school nurses make compared to those in hospitals or institutions.

Maybe some social workers, more guidance counselors, etc. The suggested maximumum load for a HS guidance counselor is around 200 students and the typical guidance counselor has twice that many. Social workers are virtually non-existatnt and don't have time to do deal with psychological problems as they are often dealing with legal issues.

[Hekate]

2. If only there were such a think as school nurses...