Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) announced that the U.S. Education Department (ED) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are beginning a coordinated effort to expand school-based mental health services. Over the past year, Cortez Masto has repeatedly called on the HHS and ED to launch this all-of-government response to help address the student mental health crisis.
“Supporting the mental health of our kids takes all of us, which is why I’m so glad that the Departments of Health and Human Services and Education listened to my calls to launch a coordinated, comprehensive effort to expand mental health services for students. I look forward to working with both agencies and continuing my work to provide Nevada with more school counselors, social workers, psychologists, and other vital mental health services. ”
Senator Cortez Masto is a leader in the Senate on mental health. She was recently named to the Senate Finance Committee’s working group on mental health as the co-chair of a subcommittee tasked with increasing integration, coordination, and access to mental health care. She also secured substantial increases in funding on the FY 2022 government funding package to address the shortage of school-based mental health professionals like psychologists, counselors, and social workers, including $950,000 for Clark County School District. She has also led efforts in the Senate specifically to address the student mental health and suicide crisis. Cortez Masto helped secure over $122 billion to help keep K-12 schools open during the pandemic, working closely with students in Nevada. She has also introduced also sweeping legislation to give Nevada communities the support they need to deliver comprehensive behavioral health services and to improve the emergency response to mental health challenges with mobile crisis response teams.
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