State lawmakers are increasingly looking to support children in Utah and Arizona who are suffering from anxiety due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The bill would add mental or behavioral health to the list of reasons why students may miss classes or be left out due to physical illness.
Similar laws have been passed in the past two years in Oregon, Maine, Colorado and Virginia.
Providing mental health days can help children and parents communicate and prevent struggling students from falling behind in school or going into crisis, said Debbie Plotnick, vice president of the nonprofit advocacy group Mental Health America. Plotnick said mental health days can be even more effective when combined with school mental health services.
“We know this year has been very difficult and we know it is difficult for young people,” Plotnick said. That is why it is so essential for students to feel comfortable introducing themselves and saying that I need to take some steps to support my mental health.
In Arizona, Democratic Sen. Sean Bowie introduced a day-to-day mental health measure for the second time since the law ended in March, when the pandemic hit it.
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey was interested in youth suicide and mental health, and Bowie said he was confident it would be signed into law. The bill was passed unanimously in the state Senate on Thursday.
The Utah Conservatory passed a law in 2018 that allows children to take time out of school for mental illness. A new proposal by Republican Rep. Mike Winder would allow student absences to cope with other types of mental pressure to further normalize the treatment of a mental health problem as a physical one.
“If a student has a panic attack today because of a drama at home, it’s not necessarily a mental illness,” Winder said. “But he may need that day to catch his breath and stay healthy.”
According to the Utah bill, which came out of the committee on Friday, mental health days would be treated like any other excused absence, Winder said. A parent should apologize to their child, and students would still be expected to compose their schoolwork.
In Arizona, specific policies for mental health days would depend on each school district, Bowie said.
Theresa Nguyen, a licensed clinical social worker, said she is concerned about the possible long-term mental and academic effects students may face due to the pandemic.
In addition to the growing reports of anxiety and depression, Nguyen said, many students say they do not feel that they are practically absorbing classroom material and are not receiving enough support.
“They feel like ‘nobody cares about me fighting, so they basically tell me I have to do it myself,'” said Nguyen, program director for Mental Health America. “And for many young people, that means an increase in self-harm and suicide.”
In recent years, Utah leaders have sought ways to reduce an alarming youth suicide rate. The pandemic has grown urgently, with many young people isolated from friends and school activities.
Winder’s bill is modeled on a similar program in Oregon that her daughter, Jessica Lee, found through her work on a youth-oriented committee with the Utah chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness.
In Oregon, students receive five excused absences every three months and can be days of illness or days of mental health.
Lee, who is a senior at the University of Southern Utah, studying clinical psychology, said he was inspired by youth activists who successfully defended the Oregon bill in 2019.
Lee and Corroon work with the committee to help teens navigate their mental health. Over the years, Corroon has learned to control her anxiety with medication and therapy and is now a graduate of the University of Washington, where she plans to study public health.
Part of her routine is to take a step back to prioritize mental health, an opportunity she says other children deserve.
“I definitely needed those days to stay home or find a resource instead of forcing myself to go to school and put more stress on my mental health,” Corroon said.