Courtesy of Bowie State University
Congressman Steny Hoyer hosted a round table discussion with students and faculty members at Bowie State today to discuss mental health issues plaguing public schools, and the five-year $5 million grant recently awarded to the university by the Department of Education (DoE) to combat the crisis.
The grant is funded through the DoE’s Mental Health Service Professionals Demonstration program which aims to train more school counselors, psychologists, and other mental health practitioners to serve in low-income elementary, middle and high schools across the country.
“Our public schools are in the midst of a mental health emergency,” said Congressman Hoyer. “This grant will enable Bowie State to partner with local school districts to help increase the number of highly qualified school counselors who can provide mental health services in high-need schools while increasing the number of underrepresented counselors.”
Bowie State’s Department of Counseling will partner with the Anne Arundel County, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County Public School Districts to train BSU graduate students in the counseling program and current school counselors to increase the number of state-certified counselors to work with diverse students.
“Fourteen of our graduate students will be placed at 14 high-need schools that have been identified by our partners,” said Dr. Nikki Ham, assistant professor of counseling and president of the Maryland School Counselor Association. “Our goal is to create a pipeline of culturally sensitive mental health professionals to serve emotionally distressed students who suffer from depression, anxiety, trauma-related disorders and other mental health conditions.”
Approximately 7,000 students are expected to be served by the grant project each year.
