Amid Youth Mental Health Crisis, Ohio School-Based Behavioral Health Services Grow

Youth mental health has worsened across the country since the pandemic. Ohio has been no exception. A third of Ohio students reported challenges with anxiety, and more than 100,000 high school aged youth reported experiencing depression, according to a 2022 survey.

But there is a bright spot. Ohio has more school-based mental health resources than it did seven years ago. The number of partnerships between community behavioral health centers and schools has more than doubled since 2017, according to the Ohio Council of Behavioral Health and Family Service Providers. In the last year alone, the state has seen around a 20% increase in schools offering these services. That’s a step in the right direction, said Teresa Lampl, the council’s executive director. Community behavioral health centers typically offer mental health and substance use services to people regardless of ability to pay. More than 3,000 Ohio schools enlisted their help last school year to provide counseling, preventative screenings and crisis intervention in the classroom. Lampl said they’ve also developed programming to teach students coping skills.

Even with the increased focus on youth mental health, Lampl said accessing care is still a challenge for many young people in Ohio. There’s a shortage of mental health professionals to meet the demand, she said. Her organization’s report found that full-time employee vacancies at community behavioral health centers increased by 11% between last school year and the one before. That could stifle the centers’ ability to fill gaps at Ohio schools.