Washington, D.C. — Last year, 14 million students attended a school with a police officer on staff but no counselor, nurse psychologist, or social worker. Today, the Center for American Progress released a new column that looks at the unique mental health needs and challenges students of color face in accessing necessary mental health supports and how the COVID-19 pandemic will bring these needs and the current lack of support into sharper focus.
The column also includes policy recommendations for responding to the varying mental health needs of Native American, Black, Latinx, and Asian American and Pacific Islander students.
The piece is timed to coincide with Black, Indigenous, and non-Black people of color (BIPOC) Mental Health Awareness Month, originally established through the advocacy of the late author and essayist Bebe Moore Campbell as Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. It also comes amid broadened efforts to demand police-free schools.
Please click here to read “Mental Health Support for Students of Color During and After the Coronavirus Pandemic” by Abby Quirk.
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Colin Seeberger at [email protected] or 202.741.6292.
To find the latest CAP resources on the coronavirus, visit our coronavirus resource page.