[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 434 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 434

Declaring a mental health crisis among youth in the United States, and 
expressing the pressing need for historic investments in mental health 
                           care for students.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2023

Mr. Moulton (for himself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Trone, and 
  Mrs. Watson Coleman) submitted the following resolution; which was 
 referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 
   the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Declaring a mental health crisis among youth in the United States, and 
expressing the pressing need for historic investments in mental health 
                           care for students.

Whereas over the past few decades and over the course of the pandemic, mental 
        health issues amongst young people have steadily become worse;
Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services states that about 49.5 
        percent of adolescents in the United States have faced mental health 
        disorders at some point in their lives;
Whereas the White House states that over the course of the pandemic, emergency 
        room visits due to mental health reasons for children ages 5 through 11 
        increased by 24 percent and for children ages 12 through 17 increased by 
        over 30 percent;
Whereas the Wisconsin Hospital Association Information Center states that over a 
        third, or 37 percent, of high school students reported that they 
        experienced poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 44 
        percent reported feeling sad or hopeless during the past year;
Whereas the World Health Organization states that suicide is the fourth leading 
        cause of death among 15-19 year olds and the second leading cause of 
        death for 10-24 year olds;
Whereas the National Institute of Mental Health states that the consequences of 
        adolescent mental health crises also include higher propensity to engage 
        in substance abuse or face anxiety, depression, or other related 
        conditions later in life;
Whereas the National Institutes of Health states that mental health crises cause 
        immense financial burdens disproportionately affecting those from lower 
        income or rural households;
Whereas current State mental health interventions often remain mismanaged or 
        difficult to fund;
Whereas high-risk populations in rural or underfunded areas are less exposed to 
        knowledge regarding mental health conditions; and
Whereas high-risk populations in rural or underfunded areas are often overlooked 
        as places that may face severe mental health crises, such that current 
        infrastructure dedicated toward alleviating youth mental health concerns 
        is inequitably distributed: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes that the 
United States is currently suffering from a mental health crisis among 
its youth, and that in order to begin mitigating the detrimental 
effects of this crisis, the Federal Government must--
            (1) encourage States, local educational agencies, schools, 
        and community organizations to support students suffering from 
        mental health crises at all grade levels by--
                    (A) improving the training given to educators such 
                that they are better equipped to respond to signs and 
                manifestations of mental health disorders among 
                students that they are in direct contact with;
                    (B) recognizing that young children often go mis- 
                or undiagnosed when it comes to mental health disorders 
                and therefore lack adequate support when dealing with 
                mental health crises;
                    (C) investing greater resources toward on-campus 
                mental health resources that prioritize recovery over 
                penalizations against students dealing with mental 
                health difficulties;
                    (D) removing support for ``risk assessment'' teams 
                that have evidently caused harm to the mental and 
                emotional well-being of children in schools and 
                disproportionately affect students of color by 
                perpetuating existing stigmas that only further their 
                engagement with law enforcement;
                    (E) evaluating the preservation of continuity of 
                care for students whose treatment is interrupted by 
                changes in legal status, such as when they turn 18; and
                    (F) recognizing the unique struggles of 
                undocumented and lower income students whose legal and 
                economic status may preclude them from seeking care, 
                and reducing pathways between mental health care and 
                criminalization and deportation;
            (2) recognize that mental and physical health are 
        undoubtedly intertwined, so therefore must be treated together, 
        and that age is not a determinant for who may suffer from 
        mental illness, in that children can face mental health 
        difficulties as early as elementary school;
            (3) recognize the urgency for increasing public knowledge 
        on mental health disorders through encouraging Federal, State, 
        and local institutions to disseminate robust resources 
        regarding the effects and available treatment options for 
        various mental health disorders;
            (4) address the current public, institutional, and 
        internalized stigmas associated with mental illness and thereby 
        their accompanied isolating, prejudicial, and discriminatory 
        repercussions by urging States to adopt peer-to-peer mental 
        health treatment models that prioritize community openness;
            (5) create a comprehensive method to contact high-risk 
        populations and isolated communities with little access to 
        knowledge about and resources to support young people suffering 
        from mental health disorders; and
            (6) address detained children in need who have repeatedly 
        been overlooked by medical professionals as suffering from 
        developmental, intellectual, or other disabilities by providing 
        them with specific educational and health care services 
        tailored to their needs, such as--
                    (A) regularly screening juvenile youth for mental 
                health conditions that may have been exacerbated by 
                their time in prison; and
                    (B) understanding the relationship between previous 
                childhood trauma and children's engagement with law 
                enforcement, and creating individualized care plans 
                based on this understanding.
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