Worker Wellness Blog: The Need to Address Mental Health in Schools
Date Posted: February 25, 2025
Posted In: Discussion, Workforce,
by Dr. John Gaal
Editor’s Note: Each week, Dr. John Gaal, director of worker wellness for the Missouri Works Initiative, a non-profit workforce formed by the Missouri AFL-CIO, collects and comments on news and trends in workforce wellness and life balance. Construction Forum carries the Worker Wellness & Well-Being Blog as a regular feature.
The MO Works Initiative focuses on creating healthy and recovery friendly workplaces; connecting laid-off workers with job-search or upskilling resources for future employment; and collaborating with community partners to offer innovative points of entry to traditional apprenticeship opportunities.
This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog looks at why Mexican drug cartels are now labeled as Terrorist organizations; to how cuts in Washington DC are hurting Vets and farmers; to how drones are being used to deliver medical “supplies” in emergency situations.
This week I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the need to address Mental Health in our schools.
The first article that caught my eye this week involves a counseling program for students in the University of Missouri’s veterinary program.[1] The author of the aforementioned article indicates that several veterinarian and medical school programs have experimented with embedding counseling services in their doctoral programs but not much data exist to suggest that doing this—known as an intervention—has a positive impact. Enter MU researchers…who designed a study that looked at over 400 vet students from 2016-24. Their findings suggest that “veterinary trainees who took advantage of embedded counseling services reported improvements in psychological distress…” (e.g., depression, anxiety, academic distress, eating concerns and substance use). In addition, they noted that “embedded counseling programs may enable veterinary students to manage their personal and academic challenges” (i.e., financial stress, chronic health issues and traumatic experiences).
Which leads me to the second article that examines the need for ~100k Mental Health professionals in our nation’s K-12 schools…possibly a result of the COVID pandemic.[2] When it comes to counselors, psychologists, social workers, and therapists, one expert interviewed posits “while demand is going up, supply is going down.” This author notes that one principal had an opening for a school psychologist posted for one year without a response. This led him to becoming creative. Wherein, he recruited a nearly-completed social worker student under an emergency license provision. With most traditional MH pathways requiring at least 6 years of schooling, more options must be examined. The recommended ratio for MH professional to students is 1:250. While some schools meet this criterion, most do not! As a matter of fact, the national average is 1:1157. To be sure, caution must be taken when approaching this dilemma. 1) MH issues cannot be left to ill-properly trained people. 2) Task-shifting may result in lessening the attractiveness of these professions…not to mention the salaries involved.
These matters impact all of us! How is your industry, company, organization, etc. addressing the MH needs of your workers? After all, some of those K-12 students in systems with 1:600 ratios eventually become your employees.
Please check out the rest of this week’s blog: https://moworksinitiative.org/category/worker-wellness-news/
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