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Grant to enhance mental health resources for students

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Posted at 8:24 PM, Aug 17, 2022
and last updated 2022-08-17 23:24:57-04

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Over the past couple of years, we've seen more focus placed on the mental health of students.

The county is continuing that with a million-dollar grant that will go toward mental health resources in schools.

"My sophomore year of high school, I had a dear friend of mine, a member of my cross country team, who died by suicide," Zachary Patterson said.

Patterson served as the student school board member for San Diego Unified from 2019 until he graduated in June of this year.

He said his friend's death started his advocacy for student mental health.

"There were signs. There were things that I felt like I should've caught," Patterson said.

According to the CDC, in 2021, more than 37% of high school students reported poor mental health during the pandemic.

The $1.2 million grant will help improve suicide prevention programs led by the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE).

Heather Nemour, a program specialist at the SDCOE, said it's an addition to the $6 million awarded in 2021 to increase mental health literacy among staff and students.

"So that students know what to look out for in case themselves, their friends, their family, peers are expressing some concerns," Nemour said.

Nemour said funds will also go toward collecting data from each district's suicide risk assessments of their students.

"That's powerful data we can use to info programming, inform policy recommendations at the state level," Nemour said.

She said they'll begin implementing more mental health training and programs this year.

Meanwhile, Patterson said he hopes more is done to address long-term care for student mental health as well.

"We're going to see success when we support a student over their entire educational journey," he said.

The grant will also allow schools to hire more mental health personnel.