Atlanta Public Schools to Pilot Student-Led Mental Health Council

Public comment periods during school board meetings can be awkward. Board members don’t respond directly to commenters, who are given only two minutes to speak. But Atlanta Public Schools officials were listening. After her speech, they met with Iman and other students and agreed to pilot a student-led mental health council in the 2024-25 school year.

The APS pilot project will involve five schools, whose names have not yet been released. Each participating school will select a student-staff liaison to serve on the board. The goal is to host one district-wide event each semester on the topic of mental health. Each event will be student-led, with staff ready to assist with serious mental health concerns. If APS is pleased with the pilot, the hope is to expand the program.

Research shows that rates of anxiety and depression among young people increased after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Suicide rates among young people also increased during this time, according to federal data. Half of the health care workers who died in the United States from COVID-19 lived in six states. Georgia was one of them.

Credit: contribution

Credit: contribution

Cook said his mental health deteriorated shortly after his father’s death two years ago.

“I was in early high school and I was struggling with my mental health,” he said. “I had no help from school, literally none. When I tried, I got no help.”

Cook volunteers with Our Turn, a national group that mobilizes students to advocate for themselves. Mental health is one of the group’s policy priorities. Cook has shared with the group her concerns about the lack of mental health resources in schools.

Evan Malbrough, who manages the student organization at Our Turn’s Atlanta chapter, worked with Cook on developing the idea of ​​a student-led mental health council before the school board meeting.

“A lot of that (plan) came from the blog post he did with Our Turn,” Malbrough said.

Malbrough said that, as far as he knows, APS will be the first school district nationwide to implement a program like this.

Anne Cornell is the clinical director of CHRIS 180 in Atlanta, which partners with some APS schools and other districts in Georgia to provide mental health and counseling services. Cornell said creating a student-led council is an important step in helping students identify their own needs.

“It’s a recognition that, number one, mental health is really important,” she said. “Number two, we’re struggling and we want to have access to mental health services in a really accessible and timely way,” and they’re making their voices heard.

Cook said he hopes the district will listen to students and respond to their needs, such as by increasing the number of counselors available.

“Students my age struggle with issues like depression, anxiety and things like that,” he said in an interview. “In my school in particular, I think we have a therapist… but you have to think about it, there’s… about 1,000 students in my school. So that therapist can only deal with so many students per week.”

Some health professionals believe that every school should have at least one psychologist for every 500 students. In 2022, the ratio was 1 for every 6,390 students in Georgia public schools, according to a report released that year by a group of mental health agencies.

Cornell thinks a student-led council is a good idea because it would give students a forum to share their experiences and find answers.

“There are solutions that work in different schools, different cultures, and we have to be open to all of that,” she said. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. We really have to be individual and make schools as safe as possible.”

Neev Seedani, a former Gwinnett student who is a member of Our Turn and helped develop the APS student council plans, said participation should not be limited to “A” students.

“It’s not just about high-achieving students,” he said. “We don’t want students who are holding a 4.0 GPA. Sure, we can accommodate a few of those. The point is, we want students who are really struggling with these issues, and they don’t have to have a crazy resume (to participate).”