Mental Health Grant Awarded to PSU
Elle Buth
Ebuth@plymouth.edu
For The Clock
We all know that mental health is crucial to the overall well-being of every person. Our mental health has an impact on everything in our lives: our physical health, our emotional health, our grades, our motivation, our relationships with one another, and more. It is important that we take care of ourselves to the best of our abilities, and ask for help when we need it.
In granting PSU $1.95 million, the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Program for Professionals acknowledged this. According to an article released by PSU on August 3, 2021, “Plymouth State Awarded $1.92 Million Federal Grant to Expand Youth Mental Health Services Throughout New Hampshire”, the grant will be applied to extending mental health programs to “adolescents and transitional-age youth (18-25 years), with a special emphasis on meeting the needs of those at risk for mental illness, substance use, intimate partner violence and suicide, and those least likely to seek continuous help.”. Overall, the grant is being used to better our community and our mental health. As the grant is targeted towards a similar age group to college students with a risk of various dire and harmful issues, we can be confident that the money from the grant is being put to good use.
Stated in a study done by the CDC in 2019 and released in an article during 2020 called “Mental Health Treatment Among Adults: United States, 2019”, “…19.2% of adults had received any mental health treatment in the past 12 months, including 15.8% who had taken medication for their mental health, and 9.5% who received counseling or therapy from a mental health professional.” The population of the United States as of 2019 is 328.2 million people; that being said, 19.2% of 328.2 million is a large number of people who were simply able to have some form of mental health treatment. Furthermore, this statistic does not include those who had been diagnosed and had not received treatment, or individuals unable to get a diagnosis. Therefore it is logical to conclude that there is a higher rate of mental illnesses in the U.S. than only those who have had the opportunity to be diagnosed.
Additionally, rates of mental health issues have been on the rise since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. A graph published by Nirmita Panchal, Rabah Kamal, Cynthia Cox, and Rachel Garfield in February 2021 through Kaiser Health News distinctly portrays the drastic situation. The graph is shown below:
As we can tell, mental health is of the utmost importance. From its effects on our overall health to the rise of mental illnesses during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has influenced our lives immeasurably. The grant given to PSU will work to improve and better change the impact of mental health issues in our community and area, and strengthen us as a whole.