Covering school-based mental and behavioral health: Lessons from the pandemic

Panelists:

  • Jessi Gold, assistant professor, department of psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis
  • Na’Im Madyun, educator, Prince George’s County Public Schools
  • Rhitu Chatterjee, health correspondent, NPR
  • Ellen Eldridge, senior health care reporter, Georgia Public Broadcasting (moderator)

By Antonia Gonzales

What is being done for students with increased anxiety?

Ellen Eldridge discussed some of her own reporting on the topic and said Georgia has enacted some policies to help address mental health among young people. These include the Mental Health Parity Act required by federal law, which requires insurance coverage for mental health conditions.

Educator Na’lm Madyun said addressing mental health in schools should include finding ways to help educators. “Self-care for educators … we hold a lot and we don’t take care of ourselves,” Madyun said. 

Rhitu Chatterjee said that in 2018, NPR started a mental health beat that it is now taking on a new dimension and sense of urgency. “We’re finally forced to acknowledge and confront how vast the situation has become for kids,” she said.

Chatterjee said she talked to mental health providers who told her kids were increasingly showing up in emergency rooms for mental health care. “They’d come to be treated and were sent home,” Chatterjee said.

Jessi Gold said college students have also suffered and are often not talked about, though their worlds were turned upside down during the pandemic when they were forced to stay home and couldn't socialize.

“College mental health was a big thing before, then (the pandemic) made it even worse,” she said. Their sleep and concentration were impacted. They also had feelings of loneliness and missed experiences.

All agreed about the need for funding and resources.

After the session, Eldridge said journalists must “keep digging, avoid buzzwords ... public health shouldn’t be political.”

Antonia Gonzales (Navajo Nation) is the managing news editor for Koahnic Broadcast Corporation. Gonzales was a 2023 AHCJ ethnic health media fellow.