More North Carolina teens will be trained in mental health first aid

For years, the state Department of Health and Human Services has provided training to hundreds of adults who work at schools or youth programs. The Youth Mental Health First Aid program teaches adults to recognize signs and symptoms of mental health challenges in 12- through 18-year-olds and refer kids to resources.

Sharon Bell, a child behavioral health unit manager at DHHS, presented plans for the training this year to the Task Force for Safer Schools on Wednesday, The task force advises the Center for Safer Schools at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and makes recommendations on school safety to the governor and the General Assembly.

Rising needs are partly why Bell believes schools are increasingly asking for the youth mental health training. Schools used to be more apprehensive about the training, concerned about employees having the time to get it, Bell said.

DHHS officials used to have to try to convince schools to send employees to it. Now, schools come to DHHS asking for the training.

“In some of those situations, it was probably driven by some specific incidents that have probably happened in our schools,” Bell said.

It's unfortunate, Bell said, and schools realize they need to respond.

The initiative is funded by grants that pay for most of the costs for people to take the training.

DHHS plans to train 2,500 students and adults by the end of June. Most of them will be trained later this spring.

Teenagers can receive the training if at least 10% of their school’s staff are trained to begin with. Then, entire grade levels would be trained at a time. The training for teenagers takes four and a half hours. Parents or students can opt out.

Caleb Lofton, a student member of the task force, asked why ninth graders weren’t a part of the training, even though other high school students are.

Bell said the program was adapted from a model created in Australia, where secondary education is structured differently. However, because of recent feedback and increased demand, NC schools will be able to expand the program offerings to 9th-grade students starting with the 2024-2025 academic year.

Lofton, a 10th grader in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, said he’d like to see that happen.

When he was in ninth grade last year, he said a classmate began self-harming.

“I know in high school it can be really stressful,” he said.

On top of that, schools don’t have enough counselors to help with students’ needs, he said, echoing other concerns task force members had shared earlier in the meeting.

The National School Counselors Association recommends a ratio of no more than 250 students for every school counselor. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, it’s more than four times that.

“It’s really hard to handle 250 students alone,” he said. “But 1,066? Especially the ones that need help?”

That should be fixed, he said.

Mental health issues have been rising in North Carolina and the United States for more than a decade, including among the nation’s youngest people. Federal data show rates of suicide and self-harm have risen, stresses from the COVID-19 pandemic have brought conversations about mental health into prominence and systems of support have been lacking.