HOUGHTON COUNTY — There is a growing — and unmet — need for mental and behavioral health services for children and youth across the country, according to a report from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). According to the report, Comprehensive School-Based Mental and Behavioral Health Services and School Psychologists [handout].

The western Upper Peninsula is not immune from this. In fact, one local mental wellness agency recently stated that approximately half of its clientele are comprised of youth 18 years and younger.

The Copper Country Intermediate School District is aware of the increasing need for mental health services, and provides services through section 31n school state aid funds that are designed to support general education students in the K-12 setting. Services are provided for students with mild to moderate mental health and/or behavioral concerns as determined through an intake assessment. In addition to mental health services for general education students, the CCISD continues to provide support to local districts for special education students.

Dayna Browning, Project AWARE Co-Manager at the CCISD, said that the top mental health challenges their team sees from students are anxiety, depression and relationship issues.

“We’re seeing a lot of anxiety in schools,” she said, but there are a wide range of mental health needs in our community.

“On top of the typical life challenges that come with growing up, it seems like more recent issues like COVID and social media have exacerbated these challenges.”

Among those was separation of children from extended family — aunts, uncles, cousins — kids becoming more isolated. An added component was social media.

“There’s just been more screen time in general for kids of all ages,” she said. “As a result of COVID, lack of child care options during lock-down and high cost for child care, many parents work from home. One outcome of this seems to be that children got a lot more screen time, paired with a lot less social interaction. There is a lot of research on what screen time does to the brain.”

Browning’s statement that depression and anxiety are not the only challenges confronting school youth is not unique to the Copper Country. The NASP report states that other examples include: stress, anxiety, bullying, family problems, depression, learning disability, sexual violence, and alcohol and substance abuse.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) found that nationally, while 15.9% of students experienced online bullying, in Michigan, the percentage was one point higher. The percentage was more than one point higher than the national statistic of 15% in Michigan for students bullied on school property. Nationally, 8.6% of students reported they did not go to school because they felt unsafe at school, or on their way to school, while in Michigan the percentage of 15.4.

The percentage of high school youth who experienced sexual violence, including such things as kissing, touching or being forced to have sexual intercourse that they did not want to do, one or more times during the 12 months prior to the survey as 13.3% in Michigan compared to 11$ nationally.

While 29.3% of high school youth nationally reported that their mental health was most of the time, or always, not good, the statistic was significantly higher, 31.5%, in Michigan. This included stress, anxiety and depression within 30 days prior to the survey.

For further information:

• National Association of School Psychologists. (2021). Comprehensive School-Based Mental and Behavioral Health Services and School Psychologists [handout]. is available at:

https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/mental-and-behavioral-health/additional-resources/comprehensive-school-based-mental-and-behavioral-health-services-and-school-psychologists

• 31n School-Based Mental Health Services informational post can be found at:

https://www.michigan.gov/msp/-/media/Project/Websites/msp/gcsd/2022-files/PDF/31n_2021_MDE-Legislative_Report-2021-FINAL_ver3_742870_7.pdf?rev=1e27a6f9ba4c4d0f954b36e2111e2072&hash=47CDAE01F03D65101C99390C1988F782

• CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2021 Results are at:

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/feature/index.htm