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Some Oklahoma parents turn kids over to the state after struggling to get mental health care for them

December 22, 2024
The sign outside of Youth Services of Tulsa. The non-profit agency runs an emergency youth shelter. DYLAN GOFORTH/THE FRONTIER

Lack of oversight, coordination hinder efforts to reform Arizona’s rise in maternal mortality

December 22, 2024
AZCIR Staff

‘Not knowing where to go’: Montana’s sparse landscape for alcohol detox

December 20, 2024
An emergency department sign in Missoula, Montana on Thursday, December 12, 2024. With very few treatment options available in Montana, hospital emergency departments are often the only place people can go when they are experiencing alcohol withdrawal. However, patients often end up leaving without the medication they need to manage withdrawal symptoms and they typically aren’t referred to inpatient or outpatient treatment programs. Credit: John Stember

One answer to the youth mental health crisis? Asking Colorado students how they’re feeling

©Leigh Paterson/KUNC: Students walk past the doors of the school-based health center at Glenwood Springs High School during a passing period on September 19th, 2023. Every student who goes in for a medical or behavioral health appointment is screened for depression, anxiety and self-harm.
©Leigh Paterson/KUNC: Students walk past the doors of the school-based health center at Glenwood Springs High School during a passing period on September 19th, 2023. Every student who goes in for a medical or behavioral health appointment is screened for depression, anxiety and self-harm.

KUNC by Leigh Paterson, November 3, 2023: Rates of anxiety and depression among young people are the highest they’ve been since 2013, when Colorado first began collecting this data. Driven by the urgent state of youth mental health, an effort is underway in Colorado to identify kids who need behavioral health help before they are in crisis.

New legislation to establish statewide mental health screenings will expand on similar programs already in place at some schools, particularly those with school-based health centers. These screenings are sets of standardized questions about depression, anxiety, and self-harm meant to identify students who might be struggling.

Senator Dafna Michelson-Jenet, who was one of the lead sponsors of the screening bill, became committed to youth mental health issues after her son survived a suicide attempt at school when he was 9 years old. This legislation is one of several mental health-related bills she has worked on over the years.

“He had fallen through the cracks, despite me having knowledge and access and privilege and fighting all the way for him the whole time,” she said. “He still fell through cracks.”

Colorado’s new legislation focused on behavioral health screenings is meant to identify kids with undiagnosed mental health issues. Glenwood Springs High School has had a screening program in place since 2020. In fact, all students 12 years and older who go in for medical or behavioral health care are automatically screened for mental health issues.

“Depression and anxiety are a lot of the the biggest concerns that we see. And increases in anxiety particularly following COVID,” said Kendra Nagey, the medical director for Mountain Family’s school-based health centers, which includes the facility at Glenwood Springs High School.

The school-based health center here, located across from the main office, is open for services ranging from dental exams to vaccines to counseling. The facility is one of five school-based health centers run by Mountain Family in the Roaring Fork and Eagle River Valleys. Last year these providers served over 2,500 students. Most are uninsured or on Medicaid.