At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we acted to secure our physical safety by staying at home, shutting down businesses, and moving to distance learning in our schools. We saw spiking stress and anxiety levels after the many weeks of self-isolation. It’s evident that the pandemic has taken its toll on all of us, and our mental stability also needs some dire attention.
Most vulnerable are our young people who lack the mental health skills to safely navigate this physical and, now, emotional crisis. Our youth, at a critical age, were suddenly stripped of in-person connection to friends and rites of passage like proms and graduations. Even though some of these things have returned, the lasting effects are still visible. Compounding this, they no longer had access to many of the protective factors that come with attending schools in-person, such as access to counselors, teachers who can watch for signs of potential distress, and the chance to interact with their peers face-to-face. Now that our students are in-person, it is apparent that the pandemic and health orders still in place continue to restrict their ability to move freely and continue to foster depression and anxiety.
The American Rescue Plan Act, passed in March 2021, included $170 billion for school funding, and many schools used the funding to hire mental health workers, including psychologists. Other federal and state funding is being allocated toward training more psychologists. For example, in Nevada, which has historically ranked last in U.S. mental health, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, received a grant to train school clinicians in urban diversity and social justice. Nevada State College received funding to create a new program to train school mental health clinicians, including psychologists. While the field of psychology recognizes a shortage of mental health services for kids, addressing those needs may not be a realistic solution until the workforce grows. Relying on temporary funding to hire permanent staff isn’t financially sustainable for lower-income districts. Thinking outside the box is what we do in education to ensure success, and this is no exception.
Ukiah Unified School District made it a priority prior to the onset of the pandemic to address mental health in our schools and put in place a program to add school counselors in every school in hopes that we can help address the mental health crisis. Once the pandemic hit, the district again made it a priority to keep our students safe by moving to a distance learning platform almost immediately and ensuring resources were allocated for the mental health of our students. During the pandemic, Ukiah Unified added 3 additional social-emotional counselors bringing the total to 23 counselors and deans to address and assist in our students' mental health. Ukiah Unified also contracted with the youth project to serve Ukiah Independent Study Academy and South Valley High School.
It is imperative that we do everything we can to ensure the mental health of our students and staff is being addressed both through this pandemic and beyond. Please visit https://www.uusd.net/apps/pages/mentalhealth to contact your child’s counselor and view social-emotional and mental health resources available to Ukiah Unified families. I would like to thank the Ukiah Unified School District for making mental health a priority!