Many students in K-12 schools are facing big mental health challenges. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) shows that nearly all indicators of poor mental health worsened between 2013 and 2023.
In 2023, four in 10 high school students experienced feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and two in 10 students seriously considered attempting suicide, according to the YRBS study. The change over time was partially due to COVID-19.
Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) found that 87% of public schools reported that the pandemic negatively impacted students’ social-emotional development, leading to increased classroom disruptions.
An assistant professor of clinical and school psychology at the University of Virginia and a licensed clinical psychologist in Virginia, Lora Henderson Smith, said access to technology—social media and the internet—has also contributed to the shift.
“What we’re seeing in terms of increases in mental health issues may not actually be an increase in diagnosis, but an increase in awareness and more of an acceptability for people to talk about these things,” she said.
But experts say the challenges of providing mental health services to students will likely become increasingly difficult in many places in the wake of the Trump administration’s announcement that it will stop funding roughly $1 billion in grants that were meant to boost the ranks and training of mental health professionals who work in schools. The administration says the grant awards made under the Biden administration now conflict with the Trump administration’s priorities. That announcement was made right before Mental Health Awareness month in May.
Some critics of such mental health services also argue that schools should focus the limited resources they have primarily on improving students’ academic skills, not on mental health needs that are better addressed by parents and families.
School psychologists face huge caseloads
The recommended ratio of school psychologists to students is one per 500, according to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).
But in many places, that ratio is much worse because there is a shortage of school-based mental health specialists. A NASP 2024 report found there is an average of one psychologist for every 1,127 students in K-12 schools across the country.
“Having a clinician in the school is just another layer of support that you can provide to your students, to your staff, to your admin, to the community in general,” said Mabel Thackeray, a licensed clinician in Washington state and Florida.
There are also inequity issues across rural and urban areas and underserved communities, including students of color and immigrants.
Thackeray, who earned the 2025 Washington School Counselor Association (WSCA) Advocate of the Year award, has been pushing for free mental health services for all students in the state. She points to high prices of private therapy and long waiting periods as some of the reasons schools should have in-house clinicians.
“How can mental health be put on the side burner when our kids are depressed, they are overwhelmed, they are scared?” asked Thackeray.
One proactive approach is universal mental health screening by both schools and pediatrician offices, said Henderson Smith. “Schools play such a vital role in supporting youth mental health, but they can’t do it by themselves,” she said.
While universal mental health screening is a concept supported by national psychology and mental health organizations, parent concerns and resources stand in the way of its implementation. As of 2024, only Colorado, Illinois, and New Jersey provide resources for mental health screenings.
School uses individual therapy and group counseling to address behavior challenges
St. Benedict’s Prep, a private school in Newark, N.J., emphasizes that one of its core pillars is counseling. The program, Grossman Counseling Center, was established at St. Benedict’s Prep in 1997 to get to the root of students’ behavioral problems.
“We can address some of the things that are going on with students internally because…there’s things that drive behavior,” said Sinclair Davis, the dean of counseling at St. Benedict’s Prep.
On average, Davis sees 30 to 40 students a week through individual therapy, but that’s not the only form of therapeutic help St. Benedict’s Prep offers. The Grossman Counseling Center also offers group and family counseling, which includes a parent and child speaking with one of the school therapists.
Davis is one of five full-time and two part-time therapists, and approximately 44% of students participate in therapy and group counseling.
St. Benedict Prep provides six kinds of group counseling, and each is designed with a distinct purpose. For example, one type focuses on students who have a loved one suffering from substance abuse, and another group is for students dealing with depression or anxiety.
“Every year what we try to do is look at what the needs are of the [student] population,” said Davis.
St. Benedict’s Prep conducts a mental health assessment every year before classes start. The assessment asks students a variety of questions, including how they feel about school and how things are in their home life. While the assessment is required, students can skip questions if they choose.
After the assessment, the center will put the responses into three categories—level one to level 3—to gauge which students could benefit from group or individual therapy, and to ensure the school is being as proactive as possible.
By the time the school year starts, students have received specific recommendations for particular counseling groups, and they often do participate.
While most parents and current students are on board with counseling, St. Benedict’s Prep did experience pushback—mostly from new students who exhibited a trust issue. “It was like whatever goes on at home, stays at home. You don’t talk about your business outside of that,” Davis said.
However, once new students see how normalized therapy and counseling are and how much everyone uses them, the apprehension usually wears off, according to Davis.
The Grossman Counseling Center plans to continue adapting the group counseling program by gathering feedback through a separate assessment sent out to students.
Davis said that in the next two school years, the center will try to offer support for a group of students with chronic illnesses, as this was an issue that has been raised by some students. “Even though we have an effective department, there is always room for improvement,” he said.
Additionally, the staff of the counseling center is developing an app to make therapeutic help, like tactics and exercises, accessible for students when they are in a crisis but aren’t in school. “We help the students recognize their emotions and respond to them in an appropriate fashion,” Davis said. “It comes in many different forms and faces.”
A one-stop shop for mental health resources also features student helpers
San Francisco Public Schools launched the Wellness Center in 1999. Today, the center reports it serves 15,733 students across the 19 high schools, as of 2022 data.
Each school’s Wellness Center includes a program coordinator, a school nurse, a counselor, a community outreach worker, and a team of Youth Outreach Workers, who are students who work as interns for the program.
In addition to offering group therapy and individual therapy, each Wellness Center functions as a safe space for students to decompress or ask for help if needed.
“If there’s schools that don’t have those services, they can suffer, and students’ issues around mental health can go unserved, and it can manifest in college in a more extreme way,” said Scott Sweeney, a community health outreach worker at the Wellness Center at Independence High School.“[The Wellness Center] is early access to important mental health services for those who need it.”
The Wellness Center also fulfills an educational function by teaching staff about adolescent health issues and providing supplemental health and wellness information or guest speakers to teachers interested in discussing mental health in the classroom.
In 2022, the Wellness Center reported that 79% of the student population across the 19 high schools use the services provided by the Wellness Center, such as therapy and medical services. Additionally, Wellness Center staff performed 959 education and awareness-related activities like classroom presentations and health fairs.
“I think the most important thing I’ve learned from the Wellness Center is where resources are located for mental health like…if you’re experiencing housing insecurity which shelters you can go to because those are pretty important things for a lot of people to know that isn’t common knowledge,” said Aya Williams, a senior and youth outreach worker at Independence High School.
Despite the program’s popularity, its future is uncertain as school district budget constraints might mean cutting back on some of the Wellness Center’s staff and resources, said Sweeney.
“There’s some expression where they talk about how ‘Oh, we just got to serve the educational needs, and that’s what schools should do, and when there’s budget cuts, you shouldn’t prioritize mental health needs,’” said Sweeney. “I think that can be a line a lot from outside sources that try to come in and cut services to the students in school districts that are struggling.”
One of the facets of the Wellness Center that’s already experienced funding cuts is the Youth Outreach program, where the students get paid to teach other students about health and mental wellbeing.
The Youth Outreach program trains students by having them attend conferences to learn about mental health. Then, students can do classroom presentations for their peers and school-wide events focused on different mental health and well-being topics, like stress reduction and the negative impact of substance abuse.
Sweeney said 2025 might be the last year when the program can pay students. Zaynab Alghazali, a senior who transferred to Independence High School last year, is another student participating in the program.
“I didn’t have this at my old school, and when I walked in, I saw the cart of food and the water fountain and the couches, and I was like, ‘Wait, this is actually really interesting and nice,’” said Alghazali.
Alghazali said the program has had a big impact on the student body and that most students reference it in conversations with peers during the school day.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a day where I haven’t heard the Wellness room come up in our conversation, and then you can go get this resource from there.”
