The Department of Health and Human Services will announce this fall a plan to improve access to mental health services. The initiative follows the release last year of a report commissioned by President George W. Bush recommending that “schools should . . . play a larger role in mental health care for children,” screening public schoolchildren for mental illness (with parental consent) and providing counseling and referral services.
The HHS should reject these recommendations. Until parents can choose their children’s schools, expanding public schools’ role in treating mental illness could be harmful to both students and parents.
…On a personal note, my family has also been subject to a school threatening to report us to authorities for following our pediatrician’s orders if we continued to do so. We forced to come up with an alternate solution for a medical problem with anxiety effects, also made worse by stimulant medication. I say let the doctors do their jobs and the schools quietly give their opinions. Nobody should be forced to seek alternative medical treatment because a school doesn’t like what the doctor prescribes.
(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
Loading ...You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
2 Comments to
“Schools Shouldn’t Play Doctor”
I posted this article yesterday in my newsletter because of the very reasons you mention. Don’t you find it amazing how little rights parents are getting these days…amazing!
Keep up the great work!
You have brought up some good points, however, I support the idea
of screening students for mental health issues. Having slipped
through the cracks myself, my condition was allowed to develop and
worsen because it was brushed off as a “behavioral” problem. My
parents were not interested in having the family image tarnished
by a “loonie”, so they failed to inform any of my teachers of my
mental illness. If I had only been caught so long ago, it could
have saved me years of pain and anguish. I wanted help, but I
had no idea how to ask or where to go. I am now a convicted
felon.
Join the Conversation! Post a Comment:
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 14 Jul 2004
