LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Going back to school means new beginnings and change.
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, approximately 20% of kids in America have a mental, behavioral or emotional health disorder, but the country is facing a shortage of child and adolescent mental health professionals.
Students at Coral Ridge Elementary in Louisville are greeted with enthusiasm when they see Tracey Roberts in the hallway.
“They’re transitioning to a new grade, transitioning to a different side of the building. Just those beginning of the year nerves and how to be able to work through the things like they can’t control,” said Roberts, who is a mental health practitioner at the school.
Roberts has been the mental health practitioner at the Jefferson County Public School for six years. Her job is to help students struggling with mental health or other challenges like anxiety, bullying or food scarcity.
“We have started to change as a society where we realize we take care of herself when we’re physically ill. We’ve got to take care of ourselves. And we’ve got struggles mentally too. And that doesn’t mean it’s this big, huge thing. Again, it could be something small, but in that moment it’s huge to that student,” Roberts said.
Right now, Kentucky is experiencing a “severe shortage” of practicing child and adolescent psychiatrists according to The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The state currently has 102 practicing child and adolescent psychiatrists.
Roberts said mental health needs are growing. Even with the shortages, currently every school in JCPS has a mental health practitioner.
“Our students are going through so much stuff now that either I just didn’t recognize we went through growing up. But the world is also changed. So without mental health practitioners, I feel like culture is good, but we are a position that makes the kids also feel safe,” she added.
She says many of the students she sees work with her for about six to eight weeks.
Roberts added, “Seeing them walk in the hallway when they started and their heads down and they’re, you know, nervous and tucked in, and then you just see them just walk in with this pride and this happiness.”
In addition to individual sessions, Roberts also works with students in small groups, by class and schoolwide, to help support and educate students on mental health.
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry says 82% of Kentucky counties do not have a practicing child and adolescent physiatrist. Jefferson County has the most, with 36 and Fayette County has 31.