The details
According to the report, nearly 14% of HISD students reported a past-year suicide attempt in 2023, while the rate for students in the U.S. in the same year was slightly under 10%.
HISD students also reported an increase in bullying from 2021 to 2023. In 2021, 9% of Houston students reported having been bullied on school grounds or electronically. By 2023, that number rose to above 15%.
The Baker Institute also examined school safety and its influence on students who reported missing school in 2023, with 19.3% saying they missed school due to feeling unsafe and 13% reporting being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property.
Shubhra Endley, director of mental health and wellness at Communities for Schools, a nonprofit organization that supports at-risk youths, said recent natural disasters, including the pandemic, were likely factors in the increased mental health challenges noticed in students.
“We start to see a lot of trauma related to these large storms, like Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Harvey,” she said. “Then we had a different kind of storm, and that was the pandemic. With students being cut off from everything, that created a big spike in depression and anxiety.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37% of high school students experienced poor mental health during the pandemic.
A Texas A&M study in 2022 also found that Houston residents who experienced two or more hazardous events within a five-year time frame saw reduced mental health. From 2000 to 2020, Texas experienced 33 Federal Emergency Management Agency-declared major disasters, including hurricanes, flooding, winter weather and drought, according to the report..
“Over the last decade or two, we’ve just seen these large-scale disasters make mental health needs spike,” Endley said.
Christopher Kulesza, lead author of the Baker Institute report, said that having on-campus resources is a critical component to addressing mental health challenges among students. He listed three policy recommendations, including:
- Invest in fully funded, on-campus mental health services.
- Expand school-based, anti-bullying interventions and communications.
- Develop proactive responses to safety concerns.
What's being done
Communities in Schools has licensed mental health professionals at 135 campuses across five Houston-area districts, including Houston ISD. Students and families can participate in the program free of cost. If a campus does not have a licensed professional, parents are asked to reach out to the campus leader regarding a request for services.
“All of us at some point in our lives need someone to talk to who is a safe, non-judgmental person,” Endley said. “It doesn’t matter how old you are, or where you live, it’s always helpful to have extra support in our lives and there’s no shame in that.”
