Supporting Students Through the Continuum of Care: Addressing Emerging Mental Health Needs

Mental health challenges will affect nearly half of all students at some point before the age of 18. These circumstances can have a significant impact on academic performance, classroom behavior, absenteeism and dropout rates, yet many students do not receive the support they need.

Limited availability and access to mental health treatment presents a significant risk for students, families, and school communities. As many as 80% of students experiencing anxiety and 60% of students experiencing depression will not receive treatment for their conditions.

Students who don’t receive support for their emerging mental health needs often experience academic and social struggles, including falling behind on academic progress, isolation from peers, and chronic absenteeism and dropouts from extracurriculars and classes. These struggles can lead to long-term effects on students’ education and social development, so it’s important to address them when they first become apparent.

As students begin to show signs of emerging mental health needs, LearnWell Counseling services provides supplemental therapeutic counseling support for schools to help reduce the risk of student hospitalization for mental health challenges or other crises. Our mental health counseling teams provide support to school psychologists, social workers, and guidance counselors to aid students who may have mental health needs. Delivered through telehealth video conferencing, LearnWell Counseling services provide a convenient and flexible model for students to receive the help they need without traditional barriers to treatment.

Furthermore, emerging mental health needs often have an immediate impact on academic performance, causing students to struggle with the ability to focus on schoolwork –– sometimes becoming a barrier to students’ academic progress. To help students who are struggling academically due to their mental health needs, LearnWell Tutoring services provides one-to-one instructional support via videoconference. Our tutors are specialized in supporting students with mental health challenges and use individualized strategies to ensure students are able to keep pace with their personal academic goals.

By addressing students’ mental health needs as they emerge, schools, parents and counselors can help students avoid hospitalization and minimize negative impacts to their academic progress while receiving treatment. Partnering with LearnWell’s support services can help streamline the process of getting students the both the treatment and academic support they need. This approach also helps to bridge the communication with the wider network of ongoing supports––including families, schools, and healthcare providers––for students throughout their continuum of care.