A 2022 report from Mental Health America found over 50% of Virginia’s youth, about 75,000 kids, reported suffering from at least one major depressive episode. Advocates and elected officials in Richmond hope to reduce that number.
Marcus Lynch was a track star, father and husband and he struggled with mental health issues at a young age after the death of his father. And when Marcus was murdered in 2022, his wife Amanda turned to the care and support of their surviving children.
“Grief is an injury to the heart, mind, body and nervous system. And like any injury, it requires specialized care," Lynch said at a press conference Thursday. "Yet funding for these essential programs remains limited."
Rachael Deane with Voices for Virginia’s Children focuses on mental health support for youth. She said Governor Glenn Youngkin’s “Right Help, Right Now” program, created in late 2022, had made some improvements in the mental health space, but Virginia’s kids need the help brought where they are: in schools.
“Re-dedicate some funding for school-based mental health integration," Deane said. "To develop performance measures for that programming and to ensure that we can allow our school divisions to leverage Medicaid dollars for that as well.”
Deane expects many of her requests to be covered in the budget which could be revealed next week. She also says she’s found an ally in Behavioral Health Commission member Senator Creigh Deeds.
“The reality is now we are in crisis," Deeds said. "Coming out of the pandemic we’ve got a terrible crisis with young people we’ve got to address.”
The expected money will lay the groundwork for longer term reforms, which Deane said Virginia’s children need.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.