United Way supports mental health services for high school students

United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County
| USA TODAY

“According to the World Health Organization, half of all mental health problems begin by the age of 14. said Amanda Weiler, health impact manager for United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County. “Most cases go undetected and untreated for many years. And sometimes not at all.

It’s not easy being a teenager or young adult in 2024

Mental well-being is a significant concern for teenagers. According to the CDC, in 2021, 44% of teens nationwide felt constantly sad or hopeless – the highest percentage ever. Locally, Calls to Children’s Wisconsin’s mental health team tripled between 2019 and 2021. According to according to the 2023 Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 59% of Wisconsin high school students reported experiencing at least one mental health challenge in the past year

“The details are astonishing,” Weiler said. “According to the World Health Organization, suicide is the third most common cause of death among young people aged 15-29. Depression, eating disorders and substance use are common in this age group.”

We present a new initiative

In early 2022, United Way brought together mental health experts to collaborate on youth mental health solutions in our community. Advice and guidance came from local, state and national experts, as well as people with lived experience.

A new initiative has been launched called Teen mental well-being: Strengthening minds. The initiative focuses on changing the lives of high school students by focusing on prevention, equity and access to mental health services.

United Way has developed a multi-year partnership with schools to provide them with the resources and technical assistance needed to create comprehensive school mental health systems and meet the mental well-being needs of all students.

Beginning in January 2023, United Way partnered with two local high schools to pilot the initiative with nearly 1,800 students.

“During the pilot phase, we learned two important keys to the success of this initiative,” Weiler said.

“First, each school’s needs are unique. It is important that we continue to enable each school to use funding in a way that best supports the specific challenges students face at their high school.”

Each school creates its own Mental Health Team, which includes students and caregivers. This team is responsible for implementing a system that works best for their school’s unique community. Common examples include professional development opportunities for staff such as suicide prevention or youth mental health first aid training, working with local mental health professionals to provide students with free one-to-one therapy at school, and organizing events to promote mental health for students and family.

“The second lesson we learned,” Weiler continued, “was to continue to connect schools with trained school mental health implementation coaches to advise them on supporting individual high school needs.”

Both pilot schools have made significant progress towards full implementation of the comprehensive system.

How do schools measure success?

Reaching target milestones is a central tenet of Teen Mental Wellness: Empowering Minds. The six milestones are based on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s Framework for School Mental Health, as provided by the National Center for School Mental Health, based at the University of Maryland.

The six milestones are:

Needs assessment: mapping the current state and making all existing resources available to students and parents.
Cooperation: building bridges with students, parents, social service providers and the school to regularly engage with mental health issues.
Referral paths: the school knows when and how to allocate students who need support to the appropriate level of support.
Comprehensive resources: promoting and supporting overall mental wellbeing and early intervention, as well as being able to provide care to students who need a higher level of support.
Sustainability and Assessment: these criteria determine what works and how to maintain it.

A milestone is reached when schools implement the necessary elements that improve their specific mental health system. Quantitative and qualitative data is collected to ensure that each component and milestone is performing as intended.

The Teen Mental Wellness: Empowering Minds program will include an additional seven high schools starting in the 2024-2025 school year, bringing the total to nine participating schools.

Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy
Milwaukee Academy of Sciences
James Madison Academic Campus
Messmer High School
Pius XI High School
Grafton High School
Waukesha South High School
Waukesha West High School
Wauwatosa West High School

United Way will partner with these schools over the next several years, working to implement a school-based mental health system and ensure its sustainability by launching additional schools each year thereafter.

“We will continue to expand and scale our efforts to achieve our goal of improving the mental well-being of 21,000 secondary school students by 2030.” – Weiler said.

You can learn more about Teen Mental Wellness: Strengthening Your Mind by visiting the website www.unitedwaygmwc.org.

Members of the USA TODAY Network editorial and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.