Mental health care for students is growing to new levels, especially in southern Colorado.
According to Cheyenne Mountain School District 12, mental health support for students is key. They said it is the most significant and fastest growing need.
“We have kids presenting tremendous mental health and social, emotional needs today, that we just didn’t face five, six, or seven years ago,” said Dr. Walt Cooper, Superintendent of School District 12.
Dr. Cooper said District 12 added three social workers to their staff in the past four years, something they haven’t done before.
Like District 12, District 11 is trying to address the problem too. In November, they just got the go-ahead from voters, who approved a mill levy override, to add more support services for students.
“So ten additional school psychologists, four and a half additional nurses to our district as well as 48 school counseling positions,” said Cory Notestine, Counseling Services Facilitator for District 11.
With the addition of more mental health support, both D-11 and D-12 still hope more students come forward and report concerns they see.
