During a June 2 Board of Regents meeting, experts expressed concern that mental health issues are continuing to rise not only nationwide, but also within the state of Iowa. These concerns are affecting both students and teachers throughout the school day.
A new center University of Iowa center hopes to help tackle these rising concerns. The Iowa Center for School Mental Health, founded in June 2021 as a partnership between the Iowa Department of Education and the University of Iowa, aims to bolster school mental health supports through professional development, research and training, clinical services and higher education programming.
The following is an excerpt from the Corridor Business Journal article:
Among Iowa adolescents, suicide is the second-leading cause of death and 16% of Iowa’s youth ages 12-17 have a mental health disorder, says Executive Director Allison Bruhn. Over the last decade, there has been a 53% increase in youth contemplating suicide.
“When you’re looking at teachers leaving the workforce, that’s an indicator things are getting worse,” said Kari Vogelgesang, director of professional development for the center. “When we look at [exit] survey data and we’re asking them ‘why are you leaving?’ mental health is one of the first things they list. It’s always in the top three [reasons].”
The Iowa Center for School Mental Health aims to provide “social, emotional, behavioral and psychological (SEBP) services to Iowa’s schools,” according to board documents. The center is meant to become the “hub for research-to-practice.”