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Education

Education opens critical doors for children with disabilities. Unfortunately, those doors are often closed to children with serious emotional disorders. Many miss out on the “free appropriate public education” to which they are entitled under federal law when schools fail to identify and serve them.

The Bazelon Center is committed to promoting educational opportunities for people with mental disabilities.

Students and Mental Health

• Many college-age students suffer from depression. In the 2006 National College Health Assessment, 43.8% of the 94,806 students surveyed reported they “felt so depressed it was difficult to function” during the past year, and 9.3% that they had “seriously considered suicide” during the year. Students also named depression as one of the top ten impediments to academic performance.  Academic demands, living away from home, financial responsibilities and new relationships are contributing factors. Read more....
• For elementary and secondary students: Medicaid Coverage of School-Based Mental Health Services, a Bazelon Center memo (Word document) and Fact Sheet on School Mental Health Services

Job Training

• "Program offers job opportunities for mentally ill," a report by John Overall of KVOA News 4 in Tucson, Arizona that vividly illustrates the success of the new "Choices" program at DK Advocates in helping people with mental illnesses get back in the workforce.