Schools ready help for pandemic-stressed students

US schools will provide more counselors for students when they return in autumn to address mental health concerns after a punishing year brought on by the death of more than 600,000 people nationwide and the strain caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic has been particularly stressful for the nation's schoolchildren, say psychologists, as many have been forced to self-isolate, had to participate in hybrid learning from home and were without the support of their teachers or friends for more than a year.

The National Association of School Psychologists said on its website: "In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising toll inflicted on communities across the country as a result of police brutality, systemic racism and structural inequity, meeting the mental and behavioral health needs of our students is more important than ever."

As school districts nationwide prepare for the new term and the return to in-person learning for many students, they are increasing mental health services, counselors and care for children who may need to talk about how they feel.

Hilliard City Schools in Columbus, Ohio, has added seven new school counselors and 10 more social workers to ensure that schoolchildren have their full support, ABC News reported.

The school district has nearly 17,000 students. For the new positions, it will use federal relief money allocated to schools providing teaching from kindergarten through to the final, 12th grade.

In June Iowa officials announced that the state will open a mental health center aimed at helping schools increase their resources for mental health for children enrolled in the period before kindergarten.

Iowa Department of Education Director Ann Lebo told ABC News that the education department will put $20 million from federal pandemic relief funds into the center. The center will tackle children's concerns about anything related to the pandemic.

Long-term impact

Bradley Klontz, an associate professor of financial psychology and behavioral finance at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, warned of the long-term negative impact of the pandemic, including depression.

He told China Daily: "One of the primary risk factors for depression is social isolation. And we actually forced and told people they should socially isolate, which is the opposite of what you should be doing if you are trying to avoid being depressed."

More than 43,000 children have lost a parent to COVID-19, researchers at Stony Brook University in New York and a coalition of other universities found in April.

The National Association of School Psychologists said there is also a shortage of psychologists in schools, and many who are working are overstretched. It recommends that each school psychologist should not see more than 500 students.

But in the 2019-20 school year, psychologists saw more than double that number. Only one state met the association's recommendation.

To provide extra help from the government, a bill was proposed in the House of Representatives to increase funding that would provide significant mental and behavioral health support to students.