By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell recently announced a new investment strategy that will support a collaborative approach to youth mental health and safety where families and students have easy access to care and upstream support for their overall wellbeing.
According to Harrell, many students are struggling to navigate and overcome significant mental health challenges, and “the scale and urgency of this crisis requires action.” With a focus on gun violence, which has created an environment where children do not feel safe at school, Harrell hopes that theses investments will help reverse the current trends that have devastated the current generation of young people in society.
“Last week’s tragedy at Garfield and the trauma it has inflicted on our community further reinforces the need to protect and support our students and the most vulnerable,” says Harrell. “This is a comprehensive strategy informed by the community and by data that will make a difference when combined with community-based, upstream, and law enforcement programs. Young people deserve safety and support to thrive these investments in youth mental health and school safety deliver on these priorities and calls for action from students, families, and educators.”
“We cannot solve this alone,” Harrell continued. “But the City has the capacity to convene the partnerships needed to make progress. With a One Seattle approach to bringing students, schools, and providers together, we can help kids who are struggling today while we continue to pursue the holistic strategies and investments at the state and local level to make long-term change.”
The mayor’s investment strategy together with an Executive Order aims to address gun violence and improve youth safety. Included in this strategy is an investment of $2 million toward violence intervention, interruption and prevention and other steps to promote short- and long-term safety.
“I applaud Mayor Harrell’s Executive Order, which places an emphasis on late-night and after school programming for youth,” says Seattle City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth. :In addition to timely, accessible mental health services in the wake of traumatic events, our youth also need opportunities to engage with their friends and fellow students alongside community leaders, elders, and other role models that will help set them on the right path so we see fewer instances of violence and conflict to begin with.”
As part of the City’s mid-year supplemental budget, Harrell is proposing a funding allocation of up to $10 million for 2024 to begin delivering these needed resources to support mental health and school safety, including $2.4 for initial telehealth services, and additional funding to support scaling programs based on capacity and feasibility.
The evidence-based, scalable and effective recommendations include five interventions that are evidence-based, scalable, and effective in areas where the City is uniquely positioned to leverage existing youth programming, convene partners across sectors, and support community-level solutions:
• Improve Awareness and Access to Existing Resources
• Expand Mental Health Education, Destigmatization, and Early Intervention Training
• Expand Enrichment Programs that Address the Nature Deficit
• Implement Proactive Screening and Referral in High Schools
• Expand Access to Therapy
“Investing in these coordinated strategies and services holds the promise of significantly improving student mental health,” says Ted Howard, Accountability Officer for Seattle Public Schools. “Ensuring holistic support across Seattle Public Schools, will be a beacon of hope for their recovery and resilience.”
Beginning this summer ahead of the 2024 school year the investment strategy will scale up its investments and actions into 2025. The first mental health spending priority will be $2.4 million for telehealth therapy services, to make it easier to access appropriate care as well as improve the diversity of the provider pool, two critical gaps identified in research and interviews. This will expand access to telehealth from 80 students currently to over 2,000 as efforts are further refined and scaled.
“Our team spoke with partners across the school mental health ecosystem to understand where the City’s investments could make the most impact for students. Importantly, we heard directly from over 150 students about the very real challenges they are facing and what they need to feel safe and support their mental health,” said Leah Tivoli, Seattle Innovation & Performance Director. “We learned from students the importance of a proactive approach to help students navigate to appropriate care, in addition to providing treatment. Our recommendations connect student feedback with expert advice to design a coordinated system of support centered on youth.”
The city also heard from students, parents, and educators about the challenges of trying to learn while feeling unsafe due to concerns of gun violence, with a survey of 10th graders finding that 19% feel unsafe at school and 12% perceived handguns as available. This research was the impetus to Mayor Harrell’s Executive Order to address gun violence in schools and protecting youth”, which includes:
• develop and implement a “100 Days of Action” focused violence prevention campaign
• Dedicating $2 million dollars this year in new funding toward youth violence prevention, intervention, and interruption programs
• Expanding on current initiatives to support safe passage for students coming to and leaving their schools and afterschool and late-night programs at City facilities
• Stationing police officers outside Garfield High School and expanding patrols in the surrounding neighborhood through the end of the school year
• Taking steps to add CCTV cameras to the streets surrounding the school as part of the City’s Crime Prevention Technology pilot
• Improving processes to identify students at the highest risk of being directly impacted by violence and provide immediate wrap-around services
• Commissioning a 2024 report to track firearms and improve partnerships addressing dangerous and illegal guns with the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)
• Conducting research on best practices and community needs to improve safety in schools and exploring new partnerships between schools, community, law enforcement, and other diversified response options to meet current safety needs
• Strengthening emergency alert protocols and expanding public use and awareness of the Alert Seattle notification system
• Advocating for changes in state law to support supply-side intervention policies such as establishing a permit-to-purchase system and give cities the freedom necessary to implement firearm regulations and reduce violence by removing statewide preemption laws
According to city officials, as the City pilots and expands programs, special attention will be paid to avoid duplication of efforts and to ensure services are coordinated, efficient, and effective to maximize use of scarce public resources.
“This investment is a much-needed boost for Seattle’s youth,” says Dwane Chappelle, Director of the Department of Education and Early Learning. “We’ve seen strong demand in our schools for culturally responsive mental health services and are eager to expand access through school-based health centers, community partnerships, and virtual therapy to bring necessary supports to our students.”