NORWALK — By early 2025, the city will need to know what gaps and barriers local youth face in mental health care amid a statewide and national youth mental health crisis.
The collaboration between Norwalk Public Schools, Silver Hill Hospital, Norwalk Community Health Center and Norwalk ACTS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating racism and promoting equity, will shed light on what needs of the city’s youth are being overlooked and where they struggle to access mental health resources.
The partners contracted with Westport-based Positive Directions to collect data from 50 to 60 behavioral health providers, behavioral health-related organizations, youth-serving organizations and nonprofits at the local and state level that work with people ages 13 to 25, said Margaret Watt, Positive Directions’ director of prevention.
Understanding the gaps and barriers to care in a city can help local leaders understand where funding and resources are needed.
Watt said the youth mental health gap analysis, funded by $15,000 from the city and $5,000 each from Silver Hill’s operating budget, will survey local service providers and youth service providers, followed by interviews, to determine whether they have sufficient spoken language and cultural competency accessibility, specialty services, treatment modalities and appointment availability for the city’s youth.
“We want to analyze what we have and what we don’t have,” Mayor Harry Rilling said at a Thursday press conference announcing the collaboration. “It’s always good to know what we do well, but it’s even better to know what we can improve on.”
Norwalk ACTS CEO Jennifer Barahona said in a statement that the collaboration is paramount in taking “action to address the pervasive mental health crisis that directly or indirectly impacts every member of our community.”
Norwalk Public Schools Superintendent Alexandra Estrella agreed.
“As a school system, we know we can’t do this job in a vacuum,” Estrella said at a news conference. “We need a community of people surrounding us to do this job effectively.”
She emphasized finding “identifiable gaps that need to be filled to actually support scholars.”
Experts and campaigners at the conference said young people experience disproportionately higher rates of mental health problems than other populations.
The CT Data Collaborative reported using U.S. Census Bureau data that 76% of 18-29 year olds experienced depression up to every day during the last week before the 2020 survey, significantly higher than any other age group in the state.
Norwalk youth in particular are also expressing harrowing mental health experiences: A fall 2022 Norwalk Partnership/Positive Directions survey found that 18% of middle and high school students surveyed had considered self-harming, and 12% of both groups had actually self-harmed.
A 2022 study found that 11% of all Norwalk Public School students surveyed had considered taking their own life, and 6% had attempted suicide. The rates of suicidal tendencies and suicidal ideation among high school students were higher than among middle school students.
Injecting resources and funding is especially important when limited resources are depleted and health care providers are struggling financially, said Lucy Dassan, a Democratic state representative from New Canaan.
Entering the 2023-2024 school year, the district was left with a $550,000 shortfall in mental health funding after the school board had to adjust to steep budget cuts. The shortfall was partially alleviated by the state granting the district $135,000 over three years under the American Rescue Plan Act to be used for mental health assistance.
In year two, the district will receive $50,000 of that funding.
Despite funding challenges that arise when grant funding dries up, for example, Norwalk is providing good services to young people even as it faces mental health needs that reflect the statewide struggles, Dassan said.
“Norwalk doesn’t stand out compared to other parts of the state,” she said, “and we’re doing much better in a lot of ways. The thing is, we want to keep it that way.”
