Tackling Childrens Mental Health Struggles
February 5, 2024
- Author
- Mary Elizabeth DeAngelis
A few months after a mass shooting left 19 children and two educators dead in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school last year, a student in counseling with Austin, Texas, elementary school psychologist Katherine Griffin-Erickson 90 posed a troubling question.
Whats the plan? he asked, eyes darting around her office. Where can we hide if somebody comes in and starts shooting?
Sadly, it wasnt the first or last time she had to answer that. Thats reality in America, which has had at least 389 school shootings since the 1999 Columbine High School slaughter that left 12 students, a teacher and the two teenage gunmen dead, according to the Washington Posts school gun violence tracker.
From 20 first-graders and six educators killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary, to the 2018 murders of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, to neighborhood fights that spill into school parking lots, violence creates mental health issues for children and educators.
Were carrying the burden of guns. These are little kids who are worried about someone coming into school to commit violence, Griffin-Erickson says. Its hard as an adult to not be able to say, Thats not going to happen.
Were carrying the burden of guns. These are little kids who are worried about someone coming into school to commit violence. Its hard as an adult to not be able to say, Thats not going to happen.
Instead, active shooter training has become standard for teacher workdays and student safety drills. Police or armed security guards monitor entrances. Once-open classroom and office doors remain locked.
Its one of many causes a growing number of children she sees have anxiety and depression.
Griffin-Erickson, who works mostly with children living in poverty, says her evaluation and counseling caseload has increased significantly during the past decade, most notably since the pandemic.
She sees a multitude of reasons, including family stress, technology, access to inappropriate and sometimes violent social media and video games, and the pandemics learning losses and social isolation.
She counsels and helps children develop skills to cope with mental health and behavioral issues. She completes special education evaluations, helps teachers create behavior intervention plans and consults with parents.
Some parents have their own mental health struggles, which creates greater challenges for children.
I work with some parents who didnt have successful school careers, they dont always have the most positive views about school, she says. Sometimes its hard for parents to meet or be more involved because theyre working two jobs, and their fast-food manager isnt going to let them drop everything to come to school in the middle of the day.
She says shes encouraged to see a rising awareness about childrens mental health issues, but discouraged by insufficient funding for school psychologistsand public educationin Texas and large swaths of
the country.
Educating all children is a very American value, she says. But were not being given the resources to adequately do that.
Return to And Education for All: These public-school educators teach, lead, counsel, nurture, care.
This article was originally published in the Fall/Winter 2023 print issue of the 91 Journal Magazine; for more, please see the 91 Journal section of our website.
