RICHMOND, Virginia — Students in Virginia speak to legislators at the General Assembly to advocate for mental health.
Virginia’s Youth in Action (VAYA) stood with a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both the House and Senate on Tuesday for a press conference on student mental health.
Loudon County Youth Advocate Ishika Vij said, “It’s honestly shocking to see how much of the budget is spent on anything other than youth, even though youth is our future.” are facing the impact of social media and politics, the impact of the pandemic and the trauma they face in their daily lives.”
VAYA is an advisory board of young changemakers convened by Voices for Virginia’s Children, according to a press release. The group worked with state legislators on a budget proposed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to expand youth mental health services, especially in schools.
Youngkin announced a three-year plan called “Right Help, Right Now” to transform Virginia’s behavioral health system, with an initial 230 million invested dollars.
According to the 2023 Mental Health State in America, Virginia currently ranks 48th in the nation for youth access to mental health services. Less than 10 percent of her funding for state Behavioral Health and Developmental Services goes to young people.
Youngkin’s budget includes increased funding to $15 million for school-based mental health integration services and $9 million to fund mental health telemedicine services in schools and higher education institutions. I’m here.
If approved, his budget will include $58 million to create a comprehensive system of crisis response services.
Virginia Children’s Voice legislators called for $8.4 million to build capabilities and infrastructure for children’s crisis response and child psychiatry.
The proposed bill includes $450,000 to design new inflation-linked Medicaid reimbursement rates and to provide a venue for youth stakeholders to design school-based mental health services.
“As we all know, Medicaid funding services for school youth have declined significantly during the pandemic and replacements have yet to be implemented,” said Rep. Emily Brewer (R-Suffolk). said.
Sen. Jeremy McPike (D-Manassas) said he also intends to “tighten the definition of a school counselor.”
“Now, on the code, counseling requires 80% of a school counselor’s time. All alternates will be assigned,” McPike said.
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