America’s youth mental health crisis – stoked by the social and emotional disruption caused by the pandemic – is a continuing source of concern.
In response, the Rutgers Center for Comprehensive School Mental Health is engaged with 50 public schools in 38 New Jersey school districts to develop school-based systems aimed at improving the situation.
Established in 2023 through funding from the New Jersey Department of Education, the center’s focus is providing training, technical assistance, and consultation. Ultimately, its goal is establishing systems that enhance the mental health of young people from kindergarten through high school.
“Nationwide, about half our young people struggle with persistent hopelessness and sadness,” said Ann Murphy, an associate professor with the Department of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Counseling Professions in the Rutgers School of Health Professions.
“Anxiety, loneliness, depression, and suicide attempts all are showing up with younger and younger children. And there’s also been an increase in school avoidance. There’s simply a huge, unmet need.”
Mental health among students was a concern before the pandemic, and there are multiple other factors at play, including social media and excessive screen-time, economic uncertainty, socio-political turmoil, and even concern about climate change.
“There’s no single cause and no single answer – everything overlaps and it’s hard to isolate a particular factor,” Murphy said. “But right now, we know that only 50% of students in need of mental health support are actually getting it. We need to catch up.”
In the 50 partner schools, the center assigns its staff to work within collaborative, interdisciplinary teams that are most often led by a guidance counselor or another school mental health professional. Administrators participate, too, as do faculty members, and sometimes parents and students are involved. The emphasis is on solving problems and finding more effective strategies.
“We follow an evidence-based approach, provide necessary training, and help educators better understand how to review data,” said Kristy Ritvalsky, the center’s deputy director. “Without a clear understanding of what data is saying, how can you tell which students are most in need of support?”
For the school districts that partner with the center, a common takeaway seems to be how valuable having mental health services within a school can be.
“We’ve placed a district-wide emphasis on making mental health support readily available to our students,” said Aubrey Johnson, superintendent of New Brunswick Public Schools, which has two of its schools working with the center. “This said, the Rutgers Center for Comprehensive School Mental Health has been tremendously beneficial to us. Our ongoing arrangement highlights how effective it can be for mental health services to be available at a school facility.”
