Mental health program valuable in pandemic
Safe2Say Something PA lets community members anonymously report concerns about at-risk young people.
Though Pennsylvania schools haven’t been operating in the usual fashion since March, the need to address some familiar issues remains.
Students’ mental health has been a high priority for quite some time. The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has only made the matter more urgent. Many children have struggled with isolation. Those with problems at home have no escape from them. And technology makes it easy for young people to experience bullying without leaving the confines of their room.
Fortunately Pennsylvania already has a system in place to help young people get the help they need. The Safe2Say Something PA program enables students, teachers, parents and community members to anonymously report concerns about a student who may be at risk.
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro recently issued the second annual report on the program’s activity. It found that during the 2019-20 school year, Safe2Say Something received 23,745 tips.
The top three categories of tips were bullying/cyberbullying with 3,608 reports; suicide/suicide ideation with 2,576; and cutting/self-harm with 2,139. While students were taking classes from home in the spring, Safe2Say saw an increase in issues such as suicide and self-harm.
Safe2Say accepts tips through the www.Safe2Saypa. org website, the Safe2Say Something app or via telephone at 844-Safe2Say (844723-2729).
The idea is to help identify at-risk individuals and intervene before they hurt themselves or others. Tips are reviewed by workers at a crisis center. They then contact law enforcement or school administrators, depending on the nature and urgency of the tip, to deal with any potential threat. While there are other means to share such information on the local level, those who initiated the program believe students and others may feel more secure in their anonymity being protected if they’re dealing with a statewide system rather than their local school or police department.
When the program was initiated much of the attention was focused on its potential to prevent violent acts in schools. It’s common after schools are attacked to learn that the perpetrators displayed warning signs of mental problems that were overlooked.
The threat of violence in schools will always be a major concern anywhere classes are being conducted in person. But such extreme situations are only a small part of the issue of childhood mental health.
The folks who developed this program likely never imagined the situation schools are facing today, but Safe2Say has proved invaluable. One of the biggest worries prompted by the lack of in-person schooling has been that children do not come in contact with mandated reporters of potential abuse. Safe2Say offers another way to relay concerns. As Shapiro noted in his announcement of the latest numbers, “While the COVID-19 pandemic has kept students from vital parts of the child safety net, young people across Pennsylvania have continued to rely on Safe2Say to report lifesaving tips.”
And the information compiled by Safe2Say should be quite helpful to lawmakers and other state officials as they look to allocate resources to address young people’s mental health issues in this unprecedented time. A big part of that must be ensuring that students can get the help they need even if they are spending school days at home.
“This pandemic has made clear that a stronger safety net needs to be in place to protect kids at any time, not just in schools,” Shapiro said. “We have to try innovative new ways to reach kids in need, including making child protective and mental health services available at home.”
In the meantime, Pennsylvania is fortunate to have Safe2Say available as one way to address those concerns
With great uncertainty still surrounding the upcoming school year, we urge readers and their loved ones to keep it in mind if there’s any possibility that someone they know may pose a danger to others.