Onondaga County schools will implement mental health education into their classrooms this academic year as part of a statewide update to health education.

New York is the first state to include mental health education from elementary to high school. The state law requires school districts to add mental health education into their preexisting health classes but doesn’t specify what the curriculum should be. It is designed to increase mental health awareness among students.

Mental health advocates pushed for the legislation for several years, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. The New York legislature passed the law in 2016, but it didn’t go into effect until July 1.

State law has in the past called for teachers to detect physical illnesses such as substance abuse in schools, said John Richter, director of public policy at the Mental Health Association in New York State (MHANYS). But the law failed to address the connections between physical, social and mental health.

“It’s really important when you teach about substance abuse and addictions that you teach about mental health along with it.” Richter said. “Because the two are intertwined.  Often times people have mental health problems, and they are self-medicating with various substances.”

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Richter said the organization has provided recommended content for schools to include in curricula such as tips on caring for personal wellness, recognizing signs of mental illness and risks of mental health crises and using appropriate health services for mental illness recovery.

Richter said there was resistance from teachers unions and education stakeholders in the process of passing the bill. The change was perceived as an unfunded mandate for teachers that would add to their already-busy schedule, he said.

While the law doesn’t define what the education should include, it established broad guidelines, Richter said. MHANYS established the School Mental Health Resource and Training Center to train teachers on mental health literacy.

The model for elementary school teachers includes the first building blocks to understanding emotions and recognizing positive and negative ways to handle emotion, Richter said. He added that an elementary school teacher may ask students questions such as, “What does it mean to be angry?” or “What can you do when you are angry?”

Richter said that as students approach high school level they may be asked more complex questions about mental illness. For example, he said, students may be taught how to respond to someone in a mental health crisis, such as suicidal thoughts.

Wendy Burch, executive director of the New York state branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said that there are two ways to improve the effect of mental health education.

“The first is educating students, teachers and parents about mental health just to understand the signs and symptoms and where they can go to find resources,” Burch said. “The second is making sure resources are in the community.”

NAMI uses a 50-minute presentation in schools called “Ending the Silence,” Burch said, which involves a young adult in recovery from mental illness speaking about his or her mental health story.

Virginia now requires mental health education to be taught to ninth and tenth grade students. More states are looking to the education models set by New York and the Mental Health Association.

Suicide rates increased significantly in 44 states, with 25 states increasing by more than 30 percent, between 1999 and 2016, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

MHANYS has received funding for the School Mental Health Resource and Training Center for one year. The organization is planning on going back to legislature to request enough funding for the school for three years.

Several principals of Syracuse City School District schools did not respond to requests for comment on what mental health curriculum might look like at their schools.

Published on October 2, 2018 at 10:19 pm

Contact Richard: rjchang@syr.edu | @RichardJChang1