Mental Health Education & Training Bill Passes Senate Education Committee
For Immediate Release: April 19, 2023
Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400
Mental Health Education & Training Bill Passes Senate Education Committee
Sacramento, California – SB 509, authored by Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank), passed the Senate Education Committee today. The bill addresses the growing mental health crisis among California’s youth by implementing mental health education and training in schools.
“Communities are grappling with the behavioral health needs of our children post Covid and many of those needs occur on our campuses,” stated Senator Portantino. “Mental health education and training are critical for school employees to be prepared to help our students. Healthy school environments are crucial to having healthy children. When someone needs a Band-Aid for a wound, we give it to them. When they are hurting inside, it is imperative that our campuses have trained personnel to direct them to the proper person for help. That’s why we need to focus attention on first aide training for behavioral health.”
COVID-19 increased feelings of isolation, loneliness, suicidality and exacerbated California’s youth mental health crisis. Additionally, approximately 75% of mental illness manifests between the ages of 10 and 24. Since adolescents visit the doctor less often than any other age group, early warning signs of mental health needs go can undetected.
Under existing law, the California Department of Education is required to identify an evidence-based mental health training program for local educational agencies to use to train teachers and other school personnel who have direct contact with pupils. However, schools are not mandated to require such training for their staff. This differs from other mandated trainings for school personnel including CPR and Mandated Reporting.
SB 509 will require the California Department of Education to ensure that 75 percent of classified and certificated employees on school campuses complete an evidence-based behavioral health training program. The bill builds on the success of SB 224, a mental health education bill authored by Senator Portantino in 2021, and requires that all students between grades 1 and 12 receive evidence-based age-appropriate mental health education from a qualified instructor at least one time during elementary school, one time during middle school, and one time during high school.
“SB 509 reflects years of partnership between CBHA and Senator Portantino to impact the mental health crisis that continue to wreak havoc on our youth,” said Le Ondra Clark Harvey, Ph. D., Chief Executive Officer of California Council of Community Behavioral Health Agencies (CBHA). “The Pandemic exacerbated mental illness and suicide rates amongst youth nationwide. Teachers and other school personnel need to know how to recognize the signs and symptoms of a mental health concern and how to de-escalate students in need and make appropriate referrals to care in the community. As a psychologist and professional behavioral health advocate for our member agencies and the clients they serve, this partnership symbolizes government doing the right things for school personnel and for students. The time to act is now - we have to prioritize the mental health of all within school settings.”
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