A recent article on the People Magazine website caught our eye. It had to do with the concept of teaching about mental health to students in public schools, a concept we think has much merit. So far, this is only being required in three states, but we support the idea and hope other states will give it consideration. The full article can be seen at this link. Here are some excerpts. Florida will soon require public schools to implement mental-health education, making it the third state to do so after New York and Virginia passed similar laws last year. The state’s Board of Education voted recently to provide all students in grades 6 through 12 with at least five hours of mental-health instruction annually. The required education must include instruction on how to recognize signs and symptoms, how kids can get or seek help for themselves or others, an awareness of resources such as the National Suicide Prevention hotline and advice on how to help peers struggling with mental health disorders. An estimated 49.5% of adolescents ages 13 to 18 have a mental disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The institute reports that 31.9% suffer from an anxiety disorder, while 2.3 million adolescents aged 12 to 17 had at least one major depressive episode in 2017.
