Legislature(2019 - 2020)DAVIS 106
02/17/2020 08:00 AM House EDUCATION
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB181 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | HB 181 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
HB 181-PUBLIC SCHOOLS: MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION
8:07:42 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that the only order of business
would be HOUSE BILL NO. 181 "An Act relating to mental health
education."
8:08:13 AM
REPRESENTATIVE MATT CLAMAN, Alaska State Legislature, as prime
sponsor, presented HB 181. He explained that the proposed bill
would amend the existing Kindergarten through twelfth grade ("K-
12") public health education statute to include mental health
guidelines, providing information pertaining to mental health
symptoms, resources, and treatment. He explained that the
current statute includes prevention and treatment of diseases
but excludes mental health.
8:09:53 AM
NATALIE FRASER, Mental Health Advocacy through Story Telling,
shared her personal experience of mental illness. She described
early onset of symptoms and the difficulties she encountered in
identifying diagnosis and treatment options for many of her
school years, leading to an attempt on her own life. She
described her survival and accomplishments following
intervention by a teacher who provided a suicide prevention
class at her school. She described her advocacy work as part of
a peer group who provide one another with support through
storytelling - Mental Health Advocacy through Storytelling
(MHATS). Ms. Fraser suggested that the onset of mental illness
occurs at age fourteen. She indicated that resources for
diagnosis and treatment options need to become institutionalized
curricula within schools. She urged support of HB 181.
8:12:29 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND asked Ms. Fraser to expound on MHATS.
8:12:43 AM
MS. FRASER explained that MHATS was founded in 2019, following a
ten-week training program on storytelling, advocacy, story
development, and storytelling from positions of positive
strength. She described MHATS as a forum where youth between
sophomore and senior grade level in high school share their
lived experience of mental illness in a five- to seven-minute
storytelling format, performed at well-attended, organized
events. She compared the MHATS program to programs such as
"This American Life." She noted that MHATS participants also
spend time doing advocacy work, such as attendance of this
hearing, as well as research and advocacy through multimedia to
raise mental health awareness.
8:13:58 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND asked whether the Church of Love event last
year was the first MHATS event.
MS. FRASER confirmed that the event at Church of Love was the
first MHATS official event.
8:14:16 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND asked whether MHATS is a class or an
extracurricular group.
MS. FRASER explained that MHATS is an extracurricular group
funded through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in
Anchorage and is run entirely by youth. She explained that
MHATS was formed by a small group of youth who drafted a grant
proposal and is not associated with the school district.
8:14:48 AM
REPRESENTATIVE ZULKOSKY complimented Ms. Fraser's testimony as
valuable, powerful, and vulnerable.
8:15:15 AM
CO-CHAIR STORY echoed Representative Zulkosky's compliments of
the testimony and asked Ms. Fraser whether she had approached
her own school board regarding concerns about its mental health
curriculum.
MS. FRASER answered that while no direct advocacy with board
members has taken place, it is a future goal of MHATS, and
school board members have attended MHATS events, and the
conversation between the groups has begun.
8:16:26 AM
ZAFARA STRAIN, Student, testified in support of HB 181 and
complimented the efficacy of public health education for herself
personally. She expressed her desire that mental health be
included in public education. She related her personal
experience with mental illness throughout middle school and high
school, resulting in her withdrawal to part-time status at
school. She suggested that mental health education may have
given her awareness and resources to address her own problems
before they worsened.
8:18:58 AM
PATTY OWEN offered her credentials in public health, public
health education, and school health and safety. She commented
regarding consultations with state and national health
organizations and cited the Center for Disease Control and
Prevention's (CDC's) National Health Education Standards and the
Mental and Emotional Health at Grade Level Expectations in print
to guide development of policy. She recounted that during her
prior service as president on the Alaska Health Education
Consortium, it was the board's mission to compel the state to
require comprehensive mental health education in a number of
areas. She suggested that consideration should be given to
determine whether the programs are recommended or required. She
advised evaluation of the available resources in an already
overburdened school system when contemplating effectiveness of
implementation of the bill. Ms. Owen advocated that schools
need more counselors who are qualified social workers. She
advocated for school-based and school-linked mental health
services and encouraged continued legislative support of suicide
prevention grant programs through Department of Education and
Early Development.
8:22:04 AM
JASON LESSARD, Executive Director, National Alliance on Mental
Illness (NAMI), explained his professional, personal, and family
associations with mental illness. He offered statistics
regarding the negative outcomes of untreated mental illness, as
follows:
Second leading cause of death among ... individuals
from 10-34 is suicide. Ninety percent of those folks
had a diagnosable mental illness. Seventy percent of
the juveniles in our justice system have a mental
health condition - at least one mental health
condition.
MR. LESSARD cited that one in five individuals has a mental
health condition. He offered the following perspective:
"Looking at Juneau-Douglas High School, 600 students - that's
120 students. In a classroom of 30, that's six students."
MR. LESSARD cited the statistic that 50 percent of mental
illness onset occurs by the age of 14, which is at or before
high school age. He stated that 75 percent of people suffering
from mental illness will experience onset by the age of 24;
therefore, mental illness primarily occurs in the teenage brain,
and this topic is not addressed directly to the children. He
pointed out that the amount of time that individuals spend
between onset of symptoms and seeking treatment is eleven years.
He suggested that early intervention will provide for better
prevention and treatment of mental illness.
MR. LESSARD noted that one of the barriers to seeking treatment
for mental conditions is stigma - media, stereotypes, and
tropes. He suggested that stereotypes are countered by
education. He explained that youth often seek information
outside of the classroom and often encounter misinformation. He
explained that NAMI has an evidenced-based video suitable for
sharing within the school environment that produces the outcome
of students reporting a more positive outlook towards seeking
treatment than before watching the video. He concluded that
there are programs available now that are effective at reducing
the deleterious effects of untreated mental illness.
8:27:19 AM
LILY WERTS shared her personal experience with bipolar disorder
from the age of 5 to age 22. She stated her belief that if
mental health had been part of her public education, then she
and her family would have avoided years of struggle and pain.
She urged support for HB 181 to provide youth with tools and
resources to help them thrive and be successful.
8:29:02 AM
ZOE KAPLAN, Mental Health Advocacy through Story Telling,
testified in support of HB 181 and shared her personal
experience with mental health issues stemming from sixth grade.
She explained that her mother is a trained social worker and was
able to detect early onset symptoms and arrange for her care.
This established a skillset for her to identify the onset of a
depressive episode in the tenth grade and seek treatment. She
noted that 36 percent of youth in Alaska suffer from one or more
clinical depressive episodes.
8:31:05 AM
EMMA KNAPP, Student, West Anchorage High School, explained that,
during a recent English class storytelling exercise, many
students shared stories of struggles with their mental health.
She noted many students expressed difficulty with identifying
resources for mental health care. She suggested that HB 181
would provide early detection skills and treatment options
currently lacking for students.
8:33:13 AM
JADE PHILLIPS shared her personal experience with mental health
issues and reiterated previous testimony in support of HB 181.
She added that 12 percent of youth in Alaska have attempted
suicide and suggested that school age children are particularly
vulnerable to remaining undiagnosed and isolated.
8:35:10 AM
BURKE CROFT testified in support of HB 181, and he suggested
that all youth in Alaska should realize the benefits of public
mental health education.
8:40:44 AM
LUCAS JOHNSON, Student, Bowden College, testified in support of
HB 181. Mr. Johnson stated that he is working in multiple
states to incorporate mental health education into public
schools. He cited a 2017 Alaska High School Youth Risk Behavior
Survey in which n= 1,343 among 40 schools. In the 12 months
prior to the survey 36.1 percent of adolescents experienced a
depressive episode, 22.8 percent seriously considered suicide,
20.7 percent made a plan to commit suicide, and 12 percent
attempted suicide.
MR. JOHNSON cited the Alaska Department of Health and Social
Services, Office of Adolescent Health, which indicated that 15
percent of children aged 12-17 experienced at least one major
depressive episode in the 12 months prior to the survey. The
CDC National Center for Health Statistics reported that Alaska
had the second highest suicide rate since 2005, and the 2017
suicide mortality rate was 27 suicides for every 100,000
residents.
MR. JOHNSON endorsed the passage of HB 181.
8:43:25 AM
REPRESENTATIVE HOPKINS asked whether Mr. Johnson has worked to
implement social and emotional health in addition to behavioral
health advocacy in other jurisdictions.
MR. JOHNSON answered by making a distinction between students'
ability to learn about their own mental health and social
emotional learning being teachers' training tools. He suggested
that social emotional learning has widespread value but that he
has been focused on advocating the education of students [on
mental health].
8:44:55 AM
JAYNE ANDREEN, Alaska Public Health Association; Alaska Women's
Lobby, testified in support of HB 181. She recalled the
statistics from the Youth Risk Behavior Study. She highlighted
the statistic that of the students studied who have considered,
planned, or attempted suicide, 46.8 percent of those students
have talked to someone about suicide. She suggested that the
passage of HB 181 would give all students access to mental
health care. She suggested incorporation of all eight of the
model standards included in the bill.
8:47:27 AM
TREVOR STORRS, President/CEO, Alaska Children's Trust, testified
in support of HB 181. He acknowledged that based on the
students' testimony to the committee, that students are asking
for mental health in public education. He noted that two out
of three Alaskan adults have an Adverse Childhood Experience
(ACE) score of one or more. He suggested that education in
public schools has high efficacy against deleterious effects
from childhood trauma.
8:49:30 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND opened public testimony on HB 181.
8:49:55 AM
MAKAYLA GOODMAN, Student, Thunder Mountain High School, shared
her personal experience of her father's mental illness that led
to his substance abuse and death. She suggested that mental
health education in public schools would have been helpful for
her to cope and avoid shame and stigma associated with the death
of her father. She urged the passage of HB 181.
8:51:01 AM
ROA MIHANU, Student, Juneau-Douglas High School, shared his
personal experience with his own mental illness, and suggested
that the lack of mental health education in schools resulted in
delays in his seeking and obtaining treatment.
8:53:12 AM
RAYANN UBIXAM, Student, Highland Academy Charter School, shared
her personal experience in dealing with her own and her family's
mental illnesses, which has spanned multiple generations. She
suggested that mental health education in school would have been
helpful in her seeking and obtaining treatment for mental
illness. She urged the passage of HB 181.
8:55:54 AM
OLIVIA BOLAN, Student, Thunder Mountain High School, shared her
personal experience of loss through suicide, and suggested that
shame and stigma surrounding mental illness could be mitigated
by mental health education in public schools. She suggested
that abstinence-only training on substance abuse in public
schools is ineffective and inadequate. She requested passage of
HB 181.
8:57:58 AM
CO-CHAIR DRUMMOND announced that HB 181 would be held for
further review.