(The Center Square) – Illinois state Rep. Lindsay LaPointe touts the universal mental health bill now headed to the desk of Gov. JB Pritzker as a critical first step in the fight to keep some of the state’s most vulnerable young people protected.
“We are in a raging mental health crisis and in particular for our youth,” LaPointe, D-Chicago, told The Center Square. “The whole point of quick screeners is to just make sure that we’re making that the norm and we’re destigmatizing it. At least once a year, we’re having a brief screener to try to identify the ways in which our youth are struggling earlier rather than way later.”
Sponsored by LaPointe, Senate Bill 1560 seeks to require public schools across the state to “offer age appropriate, confidential mental health screenings” that ultimately steer students in need toward the kind of support that could help. With early detection deemed by experts as being critical, the veteran lawmaker insists the screenings could start as early as third grade for some students.
LaPointe argues young people growing up today face more challenges than ever before as they seek to find balance in a world that now extends well into the online universe.
“Social media is very challenging for our youth and I believe that social media and very easy access to technology does exacerbate our youth mental health crisis,” she said. “There’s a lot of online bullying; there’s a lot of comparing yourselves to other people. For youth and teens in particular, the social media and technology and smartphones do exacerbate it.”
LaPointe stresses the screenings, which parents will have the option of opting out of for their children, shouldn’t be viewed as a panacea to what she sees as a growing problem.
“I would say universal mental health screenings in public schools are one piece of the puzzle,” she said. “What I would hope to see accomplished through this is an increased awareness of mental health issues amongst our kids, most importantly prevention and early identification so we can better connect you to the support that they need earlier. Then we can really prevent much larger problems in the future.”
Across the state, about 27% of public schools now conduct universal screenings and another 40% do screenings on some level.
SB 1560 passed the House by a 72-36 vote after having unanimously passed in the Senate.
