New Law Creates Grant Program for Depression Screening in Schools - TAPinto.net
TRENTON, NJ — In an effort to address an alarming rise of teen depression and suicide, especially during a time when the country is facing more mental health issues than ever before due to COVID-19, a bill sponsored by Assemblymembers Herb Conaway, M.D., Pamela Lampitt and Carol Murphy to create a grant program to help New Jersey schools implement depression screening was signed into law on Tuesday.
The law (formerly bill A970) creates the Mental Health Screening in Schools Grant Program within the Department of Education. The program will provide funding and resources to school districts so that they may implement depression screening programs to identify students in grades 7 through 12 who are at risk of depression.
The law follows updated recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics that say adolescents 12 and up should be screened annually for depression. School districts may apply for funding from the program to make depression screening available to their students.
"If a young person is experiencing feelings of sadness and hopelessness caused by depression, those feelings won't simply go away. Depression is an illness, not a phase," said Assemblyman Conaway (D-Burlington), who represents Bordentown in the Legislature. "With the added pressures of a worldwide pandemic exacerbating the existing challenges of adolescence, teens are undeniably navigating a complex world. We have to be able to determine which teenagers are depressed so we can treat them before it is too late."
Districts that receive an award must use a research-based screening tool and obtain permission from parents. The screening must be conducted in a way that ensures privacy and confidentiality, accommodates students with specific needs, and allows for real-time evaluation of the results and intervention by a licensed mental health professional that same day.
Schools will be required to send non-identifying data collected from the screenings to the Department of Education and Department of Children and Families for review and analysis. Schools must also notify parents whenever the screening tool indicates a student may be experiencing depression, and advise the parents of available services or resources that can further evaluate and diagnose their child.
"We have heard the news stories about young people who have taken their own lives because their anguish was so great, they felt there was no other way out," said Assemblywoman Murphy (D-Burlington), who also represents Bordentown in the Legislature. "These tragic losses didn't need to – and never should have – happened. We must be more proactive so that we are not simply reacting to tragedies, but preventing them before they take place. This is even more true now with the difficulties this pandemic has presented our kids."
Various reports over the past several years have indicated the increasing number of children and teens struggling with depression. By the time they reach adulthood, one in five young people will have experienced depression. Between 2007 and 2015, the number of adolescents hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or attempts doubled.
However, only about 50 percent of adolescents with depression are actually diagnosed with it while even fewer receive the help they need.
The act takes effect immediately and will apply to the first full school year following its enactment.
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source: https://www.tapinto.net/towns/bordentown/sections/education/articles/new-law-creates-grant-program-for-depression-screening-in-schools
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