Mental health is a topic that isn’t always discussed or treated.
“We never really took the time to tap into mental health, what’s really going on? Why are you absent from school? Why are you late every day?” said Michelle Collins with the Woodland Hills School District.
But that’s now changing as specifically school districts try to break the stigma.
“All students, all genders, all races have different needs. We try to tap into what those needs are a lot of time based on behavior and conversations with the students,” Collins said.
One state representative wants to take it a step further. He’s proposing a pilot program that would allow public school districts to screen students in sixth through 12th grade for mental health annually.
“We want to create parameters in which this legislation has to operate, but from there we want to make sure schools have the ability to operate it on what best fits their needs,” said Representative Michael Schlossberg.
The program would be run under the Department of Education, but the information about each student goes no further than the school. Parents also would have the option to opt-out.