2022_09_New_Jersey_Monthly
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from him being a loner to being a leader, and when he saw someone<br />
sitting by himself, he went up to them and got them to play a<br />
game.” The boy, who is now thriving socially and academically,<br />
credited the program with changing his life.<br />
“He was able to reach other students who were the loner or<br />
the quirky one, who he identified with, and he brought them out<br />
of their shell and comfort zone,” Foster says.<br />
Tabitha Rice, librarian and media specialist at Bloomfield<br />
Middle School, says the library's lunchtime activities can be a<br />
haven for students who don't want to spend the period in the<br />
cafeteria. “We tend to get loners and kids who need community,”<br />
she explains. “We do projects such as arts and crafts, we have a<br />
Lego wall, we’ve melted down Jolly Ranchers and made roses<br />
with them, and we do STEM [activities]. It’s so every kid has a<br />
safe place that’s comfortable for them.”<br />
In September, the Maurice River Township School District<br />
staff will be trained in suicide prevention and how to identify<br />
and handle trauma in children. “Coming out of this pandemic, we<br />
saw that the mental health needs of the kids were exacerbated,”<br />
says Jeremy Cohen, the chief school administrator of the district.<br />
“These kids have lost so many social skills over the pandemic.<br />
We’re seeing the mental health needs in [even] younger kids. I<br />
have pre-K and kindergarten kids who have some severe mental<br />
health needs. Parents don’t know where to go for help, so right<br />
now, they’re turning to the schools.”<br />
The district formed a partnership last year with Rowan<br />
College, which has a Social Emotional Learning program<br />
that trains staff and provides counseling to students on a<br />
monthly basis. For the first time, all district teachers became certified<br />
in Youth Mental Health First Aid, and four employees received<br />
their certification in the Nurtured Heart Approach, which stresses<br />
building children’s self-esteem. The district is also one of hundreds<br />
across the country that works with Care Solace, a California-based<br />
company launched in 2020 that connects schools and families with<br />
local and online mental health resources.<br />
“Having these programs run parallel to one another has been<br />
phenomenal,” Cohen says. “In Cumberland County, there aren’t<br />
many community-based mental health programs.”<br />
Like other school administrators, Cohen says the pandemic<br />
emotionally drained teachers and other staff members. “It wasn’t<br />
just the kids. The mental health needs of the staff were magnified<br />
by 1,000—they hadn’t been around the kids,” he says. “The needs<br />
of these kids and the staff have still been rising. We won’t see the<br />
full toll for another year or two.”<br />
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported<br />
that pre-pandemic, one in five children ages 3–7 had a mental,<br />
emotional, developmental or behavioral disorder. And yet, the<br />
American Academy of Pediatrics said in a 2019 report, few got<br />
the services they critically needed for their disorders—which,<br />
it noted, “could jeopardize their health long into adulthood”—<br />
because of barriers such as stigma, a shortage of mental health<br />
providers, and affordability.<br />
High school students who revealed feeling hopelessness soared<br />
by 40 percent between 20<strong>09</strong> and 2019, with 19 percent considering<br />
suicide and 16 percent having made a plan to carry it out. In<br />
2020, more than 6,600 people ages 10–24 died by suicide.<br />
In December, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded<br />
the alarm, issuing an advisory on the mental health crisis among<br />
youth. Murthy said the pandemic had intensified existing problems<br />
among youth of isolation, financial hardship, bullying and anxiety.<br />
His warning followed a move in October by three groups—the<br />
American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of<br />
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association—to<br />
declare a national state of emergency in children’s<br />
mental health. The declaration emphasized the important ability<br />
of schools to detect and monitor signs of mental illness and<br />
provide resources that can improve mental health. The coalition<br />
recommended, among other things, increased implementation<br />
and funding for school-based mental health care and boosting<br />
suicide-prevention programs in schools and other settings.<br />
A<br />
report in June by the <strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong> Hospital Association<br />
revealed that mental illness in youth is driving an increase<br />
in inpatient admissions. NJHA said depression was the<br />
leading diagnosis among youth ages 12–17. Between 2019 and 2021,<br />
the organization noted that hospitalization due to self-harm jumped<br />
95 percent, and admissions due to anxiety rose 54 percent.<br />
“We are witnessing the extended impact of the pandemic on the<br />
demand for mental health services,” says Cathy Bennett, NJHA<br />
president and CEO. “The emergency department is very often the<br />
first point of contact for youths in mental health crisis, but now we<br />
see that journey continuing into inpatient care in our hospitals.”<br />
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report in April<br />
reported that young people who felt close to people at school—<br />
whether in-person or virtually—experienced better mental health<br />
than those who did not. Making students comfortable about<br />
confiding in someone at school, be it a classmate, a teacher or another<br />
staff member, has become a pillar of mental wellness at the<br />
Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District, says Reina.<br />
The area has seen suicide attempts by high school and middle<br />
Continued on page 83<br />
SEPTEMBER <strong>2022</strong> NEW JERSEY MONTHLY 61