ICYMI – WMUR: Federal bill aims to increase resources for student mental health

MANCHESTER – In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan recently met with educators and mental health professionals in Manchester to discuss her bipartisan Creating Access and Resources in Education (CARE) for Student Mental Health Act. The bill would help schools in New Hampshire and across the country continue to recruit, train, and retain mental health professionals by strengthening programs in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Senator Hassan and colleagues passed into law in 2022.

Through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) receives $760,000 per year, for five years, in federal funding to support its collaboration with the Manchester School District, and other high-need school districts, which has helped the university develop a School Social Work Track and a graduate certificate focused on trauma, diversity, and inclusion. UNH students in the program are placed in Manchester schools and provide high-quality services to students in need. The CARE for Student Mental Health Act will continue and strengthen this federal program and an additional one that further helps schools recruit, train, and retain mental health professionals.

Read more from WMUR here or below:

WMUR: Federal bill aims to increase resources for student mental health

By Hannah Cotter

MANCHESTER, N.H. — A new bill is being proposed to use federal money for more health care professionals to help students with mental health issues.

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan met Wednesday with educators and mental health professionals in Manchester to talk about the Creating Access and Resources in Education for Student Mental Health Act, a bill aimed at helping schools in New Hampshire and across the country, recruit, train and retain mental health professionals.

"We're all resilient," Hassan said. "We can recover from mental health challenges, but we have to have the tools available to do it."

Hassan said the bill has bipartisan support and is based on what she and her colleagues have heard from constituents across the country.

"Our kids have mental health challenges, a byproduct of the pandemic, byproduct of the fentanyl epidemic, byproduct of social media that we need to address," Hassan said. "And we shouldn't turn away from it, and we shouldn't stigmatize it. We need to address it. And I'm hopeful that we can get this across the finish line."

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Hassan said a big focus will be incentivizing mental health professionals to got to more rural parts of the state to make sure all children have access to high-quality care.

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