As schools come back in session this month, Santa Ana Unified School District is equipping students with new tools for their mental health.
The district has launched a “We Care” campaign for the 2023-24 school year to raise awareness for suicide prevention. Resources — such as emergency contacts like hotlines, counselors and other mental health information — will now be more accessible to students through in-classroom instructions, posters and more.
“This has been developed so we can send messages of hope and care to our students and community as well as to increase our student’s comfort in seeking assistance,” said Sonia Llamas, the Orange County Department of Education’s associate superintendent of educational services and a former SAUUSD administrator.
But SAUSD is not the only district focused on mental health as thousands of children head back to school in the coming weeks. Most Orange County schools begin instruction on or around Aug. 14, but some districts, like Huntington Beach Unified, do not return until Sept. 7.
And as kids head back to the classroom, schools and districts across Orange County are showing a renewed focus on not just the educational needs of their students, but their emotional and mental health wellness as well.
In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than four in 10 (42%) students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third (29%) experienced poor mental health. The CDC also found more than one in five (22%) seriously considered attempting suicide and one in 10 (10%) did attempt suicide.
“Our children are facing unprecedented levels of stressors, and the need for timely and effective mental health support has never been greater,” said Carmen Katsarov, CalOptima Health’s executive director of behavioral health integration. “It’s alarming that suicide rates for children aged 10–18 increased 20% between 2019–20. We know the pandemic made this even more…
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