Rep. Valerie Longhurst Introduces Bills aimed to expand Childhood Mental Health Resources.

DOVER, De- Democratic Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst introduced 3 House bills Friday, all aimed at increasing mental health resources for children in schools and making mental health care more affordable for parents.

The bills seek to increase the number of counselors in all schools and would also require Delaware health insurers to cover a yearly mental health check-up.
Representative Longhurst says schools have annual physicals for school athletics and that mental health should get the same level of attention especially with the pandemic threatening student mental health.

“Suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10 to 14 and I don’t we can wait another year with this crisis,” Rep. Longhurst said, adding that one in four children nationally reported having mental health struggles since the beginning of the pandemic. She also says kids are more likely to talk to about their mental health challenges if they have more people to talk to.

“We need to teach children to take away the stigma of mental health and know that they can talk about it and understand that they are not alone and give them the tools they need to get the help they need and identify it,” she said adding that she’d like to see the ratio of counselors to children reach to 1 to 250, versus the current 1 to 700 ration.

Representative Longhurst says while the bills have bipartisan co-sponsors and support- paying for them is always the hardest part of it getting it passed.
She says she views the cost of the bill as an investment in our youth that will save money by addressing mental health challenges before they become more severe, and a larger drain on state resources.