Gov. Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller promised the public to prioritize the mental health of Maryland’s students to ensure their academic success at a press conference hosted by Behavioral Health System Baltimore on Friday. The conversation featured the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra along with national and local experts to discuss the youth mental health crisis.
Moore said putting education and youth mental health first looks like “making sure that you actually do have the capital for things like additional supports, tutoring after school supports, summer supports for students because we do have students who are going to have to catch up from the type of impact that COVID has had on the educational abilities for our students.”
Moore released his budget proposal last week which allocated $1.4 billion of state money for mental health and substance abuse programs. Inside that figure, more than $616 million is earmarked to fund rate increases for health care providers in the fields of behavioral health, developmental disabilities, Medicaid and other services.
While there was a decline among youth with mental health struggles before the pandemic by the end of 2020, about 13% of youth in Maryland were diagnosed with depression or anxiety, according to the Annie E Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Book.
Kerry Graves, executive director of the National Alliance of Mental Illness, Metropolitan Baltimore, said schools need to be involved to help support youth mental health.
Graves said it's important to normalize conversations about mental health in schools in order to solve the crisis. The organization offers mental health education and peer support groups for middle, high school, and college students.
Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon agrees that schools play an important role in supporting youth mental health.
“Identifying kids at school is so critical because that's where they are for many hours during the week,” Delphin-Rittmon said.
Funding from the Bipartisan Safer Community Act has helped expand school resources like Project AWARE , she said.
The national school-based program trains school staff and teachers how to be able to identify students that are struggling with their mental health and connect them to services.
Moore said that he is grateful for the Biden-Harris Administration's dedication to youth mental health because it will allow Maryland students to get the academic and mental health support they need to be successful in the classroom.