The U.S. Department of Education will be announcing awards to 170 beneficiaries across 30 states of over $188 million to accelerate access to school-based mental health services and empower the channel of mental health specialists in the districts which have shown high demand.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) offered funding aims to propel the President’s Mental Health Strategy, that directly executes his Unity Agenda priority to overcome the mental health crisis in school groups. These grants will facilitate the communities to recruit approximately 5,400 school-based mental health professionals and train approximately 5,500 additionally to set up a diverse channel of mental health facilitators in schools.

The crucial process of widening the access to critical mental health supports by increasing the number of healthcare professionals in schools. The funds will further enhance the reinforcement of the channel of certified mental health professionals ready to work in schools with high demand.

These competitive grants are the first in a series of awards the Department has planned over several years and comprise the largest investment in school-based mental health.

The wellbeing of several students was not addressed possibly due to inadequate access to good quality mental health care services. Since many years, schools have struggled to maintain the required number of school-based mental health providers.

Susan Rice, the Domestic Policy Advisor to the President said, “As the President outlined in his State of the Union address, we must do more to tackle our nation’s growing mental health crisis, which is particularly acute among our youth. These new awards will help connect more students in need to school-based mental health services now and ensure a pipeline of trained professionals to support students in the future.”