WHY OUR BILL? AN OVERVIEW

In this day an age mental health is a widely talked about issue and is more prevalent than ever. Especially with our children and in our communities. Here in NYC the second leading cause of death from children ages 15-19 is suicide especially among black teenagers. We have an outpouring of violence not only here in our cities but even in the USA where school shootings are at an all time high. Where arms are the leading cause of death to children in America. How can we solve these issues? How can we prevent our children from experiencing such crippling mental disorders and how can we prevent incidents of violence to happen in the future? We believe the answer is mental health evaluations and treatment for our youth. Not only can regular mental health check ups prevent our children from suffering from future mental health disorders, it can prevent physical diseases as well. Our youth today are our future leaders and if they are able to process and regulate their emotions non destructively towards themselves and to others ,we have the ability to decrease their likeliness of mental health problems now and in the future. Better functioning humans equal a better world. If so, why don't we start now!
 
Reasons Why to Sign
Scientific Evidence

"There are considerable changes in the brain during adolescence, specifically in the hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex. Stress exposure during the development of these two structures may make adolescents especially susceptible to depression". From ages 7 to 16, the frontal lobe experiences an increase in white matter volume .The frontal lobe is responsible for the functions of concentration and emotional expression and in the frontal lobe consist of the pre frontal cortex that is responsible for cognitive control and dopamine production in that areas modulate cognitive control. At such a sensitive time for brain development its important for children not to be under alot of stress and emotionally/mentally damaging states, not only will our bill ensure children to have a space to combat these issues to encourage healthy childhood development it also will teach them how to correct behavioral and emotional issues they may suffer with during this time so it doesn't carry on into adulthood harming them or others.

37% of high school students report suffering poor mental health during pandemic. After the pandemic suicide rates sky rocketed even in children and they may still be affected today. With the bill they would be guven a safe space to share whats going on inside of their head and treatment if needed to go on to become bright individuals.

Depression and anxiety can be spread throughout classrooms. Especially unhealthy coping mechanisms like finding relief from problems in drugs, addictions and or unhealthy sexual relationships. Other children can see this in class or their school enviornment and be influenced by these actions and or behaviors. Our bill would be able to identify this issue during evaluations and get treatment for the student and teach them how to healthily deal with complications.

Our bill is different than the Mental health bill for students in 2020 because ours is for every student not only for students dealing with traumatic experiences or at risk of committing suicide 
PRESENT DAY EXAMPLE OF BENEFITS

In light of recent events, we can see school shootings are at an all time high in America. Even kids who have witnessed school shootings in the US are not getting psychological evaluations or being seen by professionals after being exposed to such atrocities. With this bill, kids who have experienced school shootings, attempted school shootings or even kids living in fear of their school being shot up can get help to ensure these sad events do not traumatize them. Additionally, if kids were being evaluated and treated way before things like this even happen we would be able prevent it all together. Not only would the evaluation be able to notice alarming behavior exhibited by a child who could become a potential danger to other kids, we have the ability to give the child proper treatment where dangerous thoughts can be stopped all together.