Story at a glance
- Survey results from VeryWellMind show the majority of parents and primary caregivers for tweens and teens support schools allowing students to take mental health days.
- However, only 12 states have laws that permit the practice, despite parents reporting taking a day off improved their child’s mood.
- Several barriers inhibit the widespread uptake of mental health days for youth and for schools looking to address student mental health.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought youth mental health to the forefront of the national conversation as increased isolation and online school exacerbated an already growing crisis. The situation became so dire, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on the crisis in December of 2021 calling for a “swift and coordinated response.”
In the wake of the startling data and calls for change, several states took it upon themselves to integrate mental health days into school policy — an action that marks a significant step forward as schools historically didn’t consider mental health a valid reason for missing class.
According to an analysis conducted by VeryWellMind, public schools in the following states permit students to take mental health days: Washington, California, Illinois, Maine, Virginia, Colorado, Oregon, Connecticut, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Kentucky.
Several bills have been proposed to introduce the practice, and should they pass, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania would join the above group.
In total, 36 states have no current legislation regarding permissibility of student mental health days.
“There’s still much work to be done, but compared to even just a couple of years ago there have been plenty of changes helping to advance the mission of destigmatizing mental health, and ultimately aid in supporting children and families who are struggling,” the report’s authors wrote.
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On the national front, the Biden Administration announced several actions in July aimed at improving youth mental health throughout the country, including allotting nearly $300 million to expand access to services in schools and urging governors to invest more resources in school-based mental health initiatives.
Additional survey results from VeryWellMind show 60 percent of parents report their child’s mental health has been affected by the pandemic while school tends to be the most commonly cited stressor for teens and tweens. Findings are based on a survey of more than 1,000 American adults who are primary caregivers for a child between ages 8-12 (tween) and 13-17 (teen). The survey was carried out in June 2022, and the median respondent age was 40.
Of those surveyed, 56 percent said they would let their child take a mental health day and 32 percent would consider it, researchers found, adding 75 percent of caregivers said the practice “can be an effective tool to support a child’s mental health” and 74 percent supported schools integrating the practice into policies.
Furthermore, 77 percent of those who allowed their child to take a mental health day said they believed it had a positive effect.
Despite the seemingly widespread popularity of student mental health days, barriers to uptake include lack of awareness among certain parents and limited availability in states.
Parents might also be hesitant due to stigma surrounding mental health, while economic disparities can also play a role in uptake.
Although more than half of households with incomes greater than $100,000 per year say their districts offer mental health days, that number drops to just 20 percent among those with a household income of less than $100,000/year.
“Lower income households are almost 3 times less likely to have mental health days available to them,” authors wrote.
In states where the policies do exist, 1 in 5 parents say they can’t afford to let their children take mental health days, explained Grace Bastidas, editor-in-chief of Parents. “
They simply can’t miss work or pay for unexpected childcare, so taking a day to reset and recharge becomes a question of privilege for many families,” Bastidas told researchers.
Reports have also pointed to the increased politicalization of school policies, noting some parents are concerned school mental health support is masking indoctrination of students with liberal political philosophies about race, gender and sexual identity.
Others are concerned schools don’t have the resources or expertise to adequately address youth mental health.
SImilar to shortages of mental health providers seen throughout the country, schools are facing difficulties when it comes to finding and retaining counselors.
According to The American School Counselor Association, schools should have a ratio of 250 students per counselor. But in the 2020-21 school year, that national average was 415 to 1.
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