Oregon may require MH exams for middle, high school students

Oregon lawmakers are attempting to confront mental illness with a proposed bill requiring every student in grades six through 12 to undergo a mental health wellness check once every school year, WLVT 8 reported Dec. 14. According to the Statesman Journal , Oregon ranks as the worst state in the country for the prevalence of mental illness. Under Legislative Concept 2890, every school district and public charter school in the state would be required to participate in the mental health checks. Wellness checks would use “an evidence‐based, accessible screening tool” to identify a student's existing, or risk of, mental health issues. The bill does not clarify who would be conducting the screenings (other than a trained professional), who would pay for the service and what the estimated costs would be. It does not say when the evaluations would need to be completed or how the collected information would be used, other than it would be “evaluated by a qualified counselor or mental health professional.”