Bill aims to tighten mental health curriculum needs

Robert Barsel, a junior attending The Meadows School in Las Vegas, lost his father to a heart attack when he was 5 years old. He began experiencing anxiety in his classroom, and his mother took him to the nonprofit Adam’s Place to help him embrace his grief and gain the life skills he would need as a young man.

The impact took hold, and he became a mentor as early as 12 years old to other children in need.

Barsel, a teen committee member with nonprofit Hope Means Nevada, has put forth Senate Bill 313 designed to raise awareness for better mental health standards in Nevada school curricula, provide resources to workers who can help young people coping with thoughts about suicide and help teachers complete courses in mental health education.

“In the end, there are some standards that are very sparse … and once I talked to (Sen. Roberta Lange, D-Las Vegas), she immediately fell in love with the idea, and that was in February 2022,” Barsel told the Appeal.

Barsel presented to the Senate Committee on Education on April 3 and took questions from legislators about delays to teachers’ requirements for their professional development, mitigating concerns about student trust as they decide how to approach educators with their personal information and other health concerns pertaining to the bill.

Barsel cited concerns based on a report released from the Surgeon General’s public health advisory addressing the national mental health crisis. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, 44% of all high school students in the past year had felt consistently sad or hopeless, with the numbers higher for female students at 57% and 69% for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“When left undertreated, coping with mental illness can lead to self-harm, including thoughts of suicide, which is now the second-leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 34,” Barsel said in his presentation.

He also cited the 2022 America School Mental Health Report Card in which Nevada ranks 51st in the United States in overall youth mental health. The state has remained in this position every year since the survey was first taken in 2015. The report card shows of Nevada’s 539,000 K-12 students, 42,000 in the past year experienced a major depressive episode and 28,000 did not receive any treatment.

Barsel added the prevalence of anxiety among adolescents and children has increased 9%, and youth mental health impacts academic success in the classroom. Teachers also increasingly feel less safe within their own classrooms, and Barsel said it’s important to address this issue.

SB313 ensures students and educators retain access to mental health workers and resources, including suicide awareness and prevention information. It also stipulates educators would finish courses in mental health education to obtain or renew their licenses.

Barsel told legislators the bill allows teachers to receive a firm understanding of mental health curriculum and gives students the skills to be better prepared for life.

State Sen. Robin Titus asked Barsel about the training of teachers and their concerns in the process of licensure if the bill was passed, to which committee counsel Asher Killian responded the language was structured so that it would be a one-time additional requirement.

Lange said the training was “not meant to be roadblock” for teachers but a “pathway.”

Chris Daly, executive director of the Nevada State Educators Association, speaking in opposition, said he appreciated the intent of SB313, but asked for it to be amended so no additional professional development would be asked of teachers for license renewal.

Abbey Bernhardt of the National Alliance on Mental Illness supported the bill’s objectives and said she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at a young age. She described experiencing bouts of anxiety, anger and surges of energy she couldn’t control and said no one knew how to help her.

“I went to multiple schools promising support that never materialized,” she said. “I was placed in online learning. This (bill) was something I needed years ago.”

Barsel has been working with primary sponsors Sens. Lange, Lisa Krasner, R-Reno, Scott Hammond, R-Las Vegas, and Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama, R-Las Vegas, on the language, with Lange taking the lead on the presentation.

“I think I speak for everyone here when I say that I’m proud that the Legislature continues to see bipartisan support in measures that strength mental health education that supports Nevadans, particularly our youngest,” Lange said in her introduction, describing last year’s review of the proposed curriculum.

Barsel told the Appeal after the hearing he was pleased to receive the questions from the committee about the bill’s merits and concerns for teachers and students. Sen. Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, for example, had asked about how the proposal might mitigate potential apprehensions youth in a mental health crisis might have in approaching a teacher if they’ve never learned to trust an adult in the first place.

“I was super happy to have all the questions, especially from Sen. Neal, and to continue my talks with the Nevada Department of Education, wanting to make sure that it’s not just that a bill can pass but that if and when SB313 does make it that it does make the best change possible and that I can make sure to give it the student perspective throughout the entire process and that I can hope to be working through the rollout this summer,” Barsley said.

As of Friday, no action had been taken on the bill.