Student mental health update

Last week, The Star covered Lake Roosevelt students who petitioned the school board for more mental health support, including full-time counselors and a crisis intervention program like Only7Seconds. We also said a comprehensive follow-up story on student mental health would appear in this week’s paper.

We have not heard back from school staff to discuss the topic further – understandable, given the start of the new school year. However, a student body representative told us she would like to talk more about student mental health for a future story, and perhaps call a meeting with the full ASB to discuss the topic with the newspaper. 

We look forward to providing a more complete story on local youth mental health challenges, current resources, and what the school administration is doing for student support, once we’ve gotten the chance to conduct more interviews. The kids in this community are worth it.

While in-person counselors are in short supply, a new state program called HearMeWA launched early this summer to provide a way for youth and concerned adults to find help and report concerns. Coming from the state attorney general, the program was built with input from youth advisors around the state.

HearMeWA is available as an app, by texting HearMeWA to 783477, or calling the hotline for a live person: 888-537-1634.

— Renata Rollins

reporter