# data[].attributes.headline
Over 3 Million U.S. School Kids Now Vaping or Smoking

# data[].attributes.subject
Over 3 Million U.S. School Kids Now Vaping or Smoking

# data[].attributes.body
This article from U.S. News addresses the vaping epidemic in middle and high school age children. Approximately 16.5% of high school students and 4.5% of middle school students use vapes or tobacco products, with vaping being the most popular. The article states that factors such as poor school performance, anxiety, stress, and low family income all increase the risk of children using these products. The FDA and CDC both stress the importance of families and schools educating students on the harmful effects of smoking to prevent children from getting addicted. Schools should educate students on the harmful effects of smoking and encourage them to avoid vaping and other tobacco products.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Nov. 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Despite continued efforts by health advocates and U.S. public health officials, a huge number of middle and high school students are still using addictive tobacco products, most often vaping products.

A new study released by two federal agencies on Thursday estimated a total of 3.08 million U.S. middle and high school students using some form of tobacco product within the previous 30 days in 2022.

"Commercial tobacco product use continues to threaten the health of our nation's youth, and disparities in youth tobacco product use persist," said Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, who directs the Office on Smoking and Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"By addressing the factors that lead to youth tobacco product use and helping youth to quit, we can give our nation's young people the best opportunity to live their healthiest lives," she said in a CDC news release.

In total, just over 11% of all students in middle and high school now vape or use cigars, cigarettes or some form of tobacco product, according to the new report issued jointly by the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Rates were higher at the high school level, with 16.5% of kids in that age group using a tobacco product. About 4.5% of middle school students used tobacco products.

By far the most commonly used tobacco product among all students was electronic cigarettes, for the ninth consecutive year, the researchers said. Vape products were used by 2.55 million students. Next in popularity were cigars, which 500,000 students had used, and cigarettes, which were smoked by 440,000 teens. Another 330,000 kids used smokeless tobacco, the analysis found.

The study was based on data from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey. This survey of students in grades nine through 12 was administered between Jan. 18 and May 31, 2022. The researchers behind the new study said the results can't be compared to previous years because survey methods have recently changed.

Racial disparities also were found, with American Indian or Alaska Native students having the highest percentage of any tobacco product use, at 13.5%, the team said. White students reported the highest percentage of e-cigarette use, at 11%, while Black students reported the highest percentage of use for cigars/cigarettes, at 5.7%.

Certain factors - poor performance at school, anxiety/distress and low family income - seemed to increase the risk that a teen might take up smoking or vaping, according to the study. The researchers also noted that vaping and smoking products tended to be more heavily promoted and sold in racial and ethnic minority communities.

Ongoing efforts continue to reduce youth tobacco product use, including enforcing the federal minimum age of sale of 21 years for all tobacco product types. The FDA has an ongoing action against sales of unauthorized e-cigarettes, and states and communities have restricted the sale of flavored tobacco products. Other efforts include media campaigns, education and prohibitions on where people can smoke.

Both the FDA and CDC called on parents, educators and health care providers to help in efforts to prevent youth tobacco use.

"It's clear we've made commendable progress in reducing cigarette smoking among our nation's youth. However, with an ever-changing tobacco product landscape, there's still more work to be done," Brian King, director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products, said in the news release. "We must continue to tackle all forms of tobacco product use among youth, including meaningfully addressing the notable disparities that continue to persist."

The study findings were published in the Nov. 11 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The American Heart Association has more about vaping.

SOURCE: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, news release, Nov. 10, 2022

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Over 3 Million U.S. School Kids Now Vaping or Smoking

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, Nov. 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Despite continued efforts by health advocates and U.S. public health officials, a huge number of middle and high school students are still using addictive tobacco products, most often vaping products.

# data[].attributes.headline
Disaster news can trigger post-traumatic stress in kids thousands of miles away

# data[].attributes.subject
Disaster news can trigger post-traumatic stress in kids thousands of miles away

# data[].attributes.body
This article from the Washington Post discusses trauma in kids. Researchers analyzed brain scans of children watching news coverage of disasters and they triggered anxiety responses in the brain. These reactions could lead to developing post-traumatic stress responses to this type of media. The article suggests limiting children's exposure to this type of media, especially when it is sensationalized. As a teacher, it is important to know that talking about certain topics and viewing material can be triggering to students. With this knowledge, I know to limit what news I show my students in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Snow covers a charred vehicle after wildfires ravaged the area in Superior, Colo., on Jan. 2. The blaze in a suburban area near Denver destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and other buildings. (Jack Dempsey/AP)

When disasters strike, the flood of images on TV and social media can have a powerful psychological effect on children - whether they are physically in the line of danger or watching from thousands of miles away.

Our latest research uses brain scans to show how simply watching news coverage of disasters can raise children's anxiety and trigger responses in their brains that put them at risk of post-traumatic stress symptoms. It also explores why some children are more vulnerable to those effects than others.

This risk is important for parents and media to understand. In just the past few months, news coverage has been saturated with images of wildfires burning through neighborhoods in Colorado, tornado damage across the Midwest, a school shooting in Michigan and news of rising illnesses from the pandemic.

With climate change, researchers estimate that today's children will face three times as many climate-related disasters as their grandparents. And the pervasiveness of social media and 24-hour news make exposure to images of disasters more probable.

As a neuroscientist and a psychologist who study youth anxiety and the adolescent brain, we have been exploring ways to identify children who are most at risk.

What does childhood anxiety look like? Probably not what you think.

Harm for some kids

The Academy of Pediatrics declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health in 2021 as professionals saw rising rates.

Exposure to disasters in particular can trigger post-traumatic stress symptoms, such as loss of sleep, intrusive thoughts about the experience, memory impairments or severe emotional distress. But while around 10 percent of people who are directly exposed to traumatic events develop symptoms that are severe enough to meet diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a majority do not.

Understanding which factors help determine whether disaster exposure will lead to serious mental health problems may help identify children at greatest risk for PTSD, facilitate early intervention and help develop targeted mental health outreach in the aftermath of disasters.

This also applies to children exposed to disasters and other traumatic events through media.

A once-dominant theory of disaster mental health, sometimes called the "bull's eye model," proposed that the negative mental health effects of a disaster were directly related to how close the person was to the center of the event - the bull's eye. But more and more studies are finding that the negative mental health effects of disasters extend far beyond the immediate disaster area.

People who survive multiple disasters have worse mental health

Sensationalized 24-hour news cycles on television and online are part of the reason, studies suggest. These media are designed to attract viewers and keep them engaged. This is especially true for content on social media, which often contains more graphic images and scenes than typically broadcast by more traditional news sources.

So, why are some children vulnerable to these media influences, whereas others are not?

Our research points to preexisting and identifiable neurobiological profiles that can make young people especially susceptible to the harmful mental health effects of disaster-related news coverage.

Hurricane Irma's impact

When Hurricane Irma struck in 2017, we were able to use a national long-term research project that was already underway to study how children were coping both before and after the disaster. We could look at the types of disaster exposure, and whether any preexisting characteristics could distinguish those children who went on to develop post-traumatic stress symptoms from those who did not.

Nursing home deaths rose 25 percent after Hurricane Irma, study finds

We were able to more firmly establish whether changes were because of disaster and media exposure, and not something else.

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study followed 11,800 children across the United States over a 10-year period using a variety of brain imaging and mental health assessments. Three of the study sites - two in Florida and one in South Carolina - were hit by Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record.

In the week before Irma made landfall, national media coverage provided highly dramatic, around-the-clock forecasting of the impending " catastrophic" storm and its threat of destruction of " epic proportions." Irma led to the largest human evacuation in U.S. history, about 7 million people.

After the storm, we collected additional data from about 400 of the project's participants at the three sites affected by Irma and a demographically similar site on the other side of the country, in San Diego. We assessed their exposure to the hurricane and to media coverage ahead of the storm, and the extent to which the child exhibited post-traumatic stress symptoms six to eight months after the storm, when the children were 11 to 13 years old.

We found that greater media exposure was associated with higher reporting of post-traumatic stress symptoms - and the link was just as strong in San Diego youth as it was in Florida youth.

The pandemic has caused nearly two years of collective trauma. Many people are near a breaking point.

The association between media exposure and post-traumatic stress symptoms was strongest for those with a particular brain response in the amygdala, a brain area involved in processing fear and detecting potential threats.

Earlier in the study, many of the same children had been particularly reactive when viewing fearful facial expressions. At the same time, their brain scans showed reduced activity in another region of the brain, the orbitofrontal cortex, thought to be involved in reducing emotional arousal.

That brain activation profile marked vulnerability for developing post-traumatic stress symptoms after viewing disaster-related media coverage.

What can parents do?

These findings highlight how children do not need to be in harm's way or even close to a disaster to be affected by it - exposure to media coverage of a disaster can have a substantial impact as well.

They also suggest that there are identifiable vulnerabilities that might make some children more likely to be emotionally affected by media.

Scientists are increasingly interested in understanding what exposure to traumatic news coverage is doing to younger viewers who are still developing a sense of security. Recent research has suggested that parents should also be concerned about children's exposure to social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok.

So what can parents do? For starters, parents can monitor and limit access to some Internet content for young viewers.

While it is important for parents to get periodic updates about impending storms or fires, extended exposure to such content rarely provides additional actionable information. Intermittent check-ins of breaking news may be appropriate, but the TV and social media do not have to be on constantly.

It's easy to routinely unplug, and it's good for the mental health of children.
Jonathan S. Comer This article was originally published on theconversation.com. is professor of psychology and psychiatry at Florida International University. Anthony Steven Dick is professor of psychology at Florida International University. View 3 more stories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Perspective | Disaster news can trigger post-traumatic stress in kids thousands of miles away

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When disasters strike, the flood of images on TV and social media can have a powerful psychological effect on children - whether they are physically in the line of danger or watching from thousands of miles away.

# data[].attributes.headline
What is 'healthy' food? The FDA is finally updating its answer

# data[].attributes.subject
What is 'healthy' food? The FDA is finally updating its answer

# data[].attributes.body
This article from the Seattle Times defines what the FDA has deemed to be healthy eating. After 28 years, the FDA is updating what a healthy diet is considered to be. This update focuses on foods and dietary patterns rather than carbs, fats, sugars, etc. This change changes what should be labeled as "healthy" and "unhealthy" and focuses on meeting and staying within recommended daily nutrition. For kids in health class, this means teaching what kinds of nutrients they need to be healthy and not labeling all carbs, sugars, and fats as unhealthy. Children should be encouraged to eat balanced diets where they get all of the nutrients they need to be healthy and grow.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On Nutrition

The Food and Drug Administration is finally taking a fresh look at what "healthy" means when applied to food. To borrow a phrase from Lizzo, it's about damn time, because the last time the FDA set standards for which foods manufacturers and producers can call "healthy" was in 1994. Not only was this during the height of low-fat nutrition thinking, but the agency took a reductionist view of "healthy" by focusing on individual nutrients rather the actual foods we eat.

Under those 28-year-old standards, for a food to bear the "healthy" claim, it would have to limit total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium, and contain at least minimum amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, protein and dietary fiber. This meant that simple foods like nuts, olive oil and salmon could not call themselves "healthy," because they were too high in fat, even though it's heart-healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fat. Meanwhile, some ultraprocessed concoction with added fiber, vitamins and minerals and, yes, sugar - few people were concerned about added sugar in the '90s - could.

Fortunately, nutrition science has evolved. We now know that not all fats or carbs are unhealthy - it's the type and quality of those fats and those carbs that matter. Another way the FDA's proposed updated standards are catching up is that they will focus on foods and dietary patterns, because when you eat an overall healthy diet, you get enough of the nutrients you need.

All of this is consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which is updated every five years rather than every three decades, and defines a healthy dietary pattern as one that includes:

Vegetables of all types. This includes dark green, red and orange; dried or canned beans, peas and lentils; starchy vegetables such as white potatoes, jicama and fresh green peas; and other vegetables such as artichokes, asparagus, cauliflower and onions

Fruits, especially whole fruit

Grains (with at least half of them whole grains)

Dairy, including fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese, as well as fortified soy beverages and soy yogurt alternatives

Protein foods, including lean meats, poultry, eggs and seafood; dried or canned beans, peas and lentils; and nuts, seeds and soy products (such as tofu and tempeh)

Oils, including "vegetable" oils - olive, canola, peanut, safflower, sunflower and corn - and oils in food, such as nuts, seeds, olives, seafood and avocados

The FDA's proposal makes adjustments for different food groups to allow a variety of foods to meet the updated definition without encouraging unnecessary saturated fat, sodium and added sugars. For example, nuts, olive oil and salmon wouldn't be "punished" for being high fat, but products made from naturally low-fat or nonfat fruits and vegetables would have to contain at least a half-cup of fruit or vegetable per serving, no added sugar and a maximum of 10% the recommended daily sodium limit and 5% the daily saturated-fat limit.

Of course, even though there are some much-needed nuances in the proposed new standards, they could be too simplistic for some multi-ingredient foods. There's also the risk that some people might compulsively strive to only eat foods labeled as ''healthy," which could contribute to disordered eating. Still, not all people have the same level of nutrition knowledge or the resources to acquire that knowledge. Having up-to-date standards for which packaged foods can include a "healthy" claim could help many people make informed choices with minimum time and effort.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is 'healthy' food? The FDA is finally updating its answer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Food and Drug Administration is finally taking a fresh look at what "healthy" means when applied to food. To borrow a phrase from Lizzo, it's about damn time, because the last time the FDA set standards for which foods manufacturers and producers can call "healthy" was in 1994.

# data[].attributes.headline
Poison center reports for child marijuana use rose 245% in the last 20 years

# data[].attributes.subject
Poison center reports for child marijuana use rose 245% in the last 20 years

# data[].attributes.body
This article from ABC News on child drug use states that marijuana use by children has risen 245% in the last 20 years. This information is based on a study done by the Oregon Heath and Science University on poison control center reports. The study found that the largest increase was between 2017 and 2020, and the article hypothesizes that it is linked to the legalization of marijuana and that it is easily accessible in multiple forms. Edible forms were found to have the highest increase in calls to poison control centers. Information from this article shows that children are using marijuana now more than ever before. Children should be educated on what marijuana is, the forms that it may come in, and why they should avoid using drugs.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Poison center reports for child marijuana use rose 245% in last 20 years: Study

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Researchers analyzed over 330,000 reports in the National Poison Data System over the last 20 years, finding increase in marijuana rates was the most of any substance.

# data[].attributes.headline
To counter the effect of sitting too much, try the astronaut workout

# data[].attributes.subject
To counter the effect of sitting too much, try the astronaut workout

# data[].attributes.body
This article from The Washington Post focuses on physical activity. It outlines research conducted on astronauts' physical health. Being in space leads to loss of significant muscle mass and bone density. Astronauts need significant, high intensity physical exercise in order to avoid these consequences. The articles outlines how we can modify their workouts to our own routines on earth to maintain physical fitness and combat inactivity. This is a fun way to introduce physical exercise to young students, who may admire astronauts! When teaching physical fitness, teachers can use this article to lead students in trying some of the astronaut workouts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
NASA footage from April 2020 shows astronauts working out on the International Space Station. (Video: NASA)

Exercise like an astronaut and you might avoid the unhealthy effects of sitting too much, according to recent studies about the benefits of space workouts.

The research, which involved astronauts on the International Space Station and bed-bound volunteers in Houston, suggest that the right mix of scientifically tested exercises can stave off undesirable physical consequences from being weightless on the space station - or inactive for long hours on Earth.

"Exercise is quite potent in these conditions," said Lori L. Ploutz-Snyder, the dean of the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology who was previously a lead exercise scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston and is co-author of the new research.

But there is a catch. To faithfully re-create low-gravity workouts, we would need to run straight up a wall, like the cartoon Roadrunner, and weight train in bed. With a few tweaks, though, astronauts' daily exercise routines can work on Earth and help us develop our own out-of-this-world fitness.

Why astronauts need exercise

Space travel is hot right now, as NASA's newly launched Orion spacecraft circles the moon, the International Space Station continues its long-term Earth orbit and private rocket companies offer exorbitantly priced tourist jaunts toward the stars.

Unfortunately, our bodies are not well-suited to space. In microgravity, muscles and bones bear no weight and rapidly shrivel, and cardiovascular fitness plummets.

"Without regular exercise, we would lose significant muscle mass and bone density," said Jessica Meir, a scientist and astronaut who has served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station.

Hoping to stem such declines, NASA added exercise equipment to the space station in the 1990s, and astronauts began dutifully working out slowly and laboriously for several hours a day, pacing themselves to avoid injury and fatigue. But their muscles and fitness still shrank.

So, in the early 2010s, Ploutz-Snyder and her scientific colleagues at NASA began to consider intensity. By then, exercise science showed that brief spurts of strenuous, all-out exercise built strength and endurance.

Could that kind of short, intense exercise be effective and safe in space, the scientists wondered? To find out, they asked 34 Earthlings to go to bed and stay there, nonstop, for 70 days.

Testing HIIT workouts in bed

Head-down tilt bed rest is science's best simulation of space travel, and its most discomfiting. During head-down tilt bed rest studies, people lie, day and night,in beds that are tilted six degrees so that their heads point toward the floor and their feet slant up. Fluids rush to their heads, as they do during weightlessness, and muscles and endurance atrophy.

In early head-down tilt bed rest, once-healthy volunteers' physiques rapidly turned, in effect, to goo - their muscles softening and shrinking, similar to what would be seen if they had spent months in space.

But Ploutz-Snyder and her colleagues hoped the right exercise program might keep bed-bound volunteers fit and, if so, could be used in space. So their engineers mounted treadmills sideways on the wall to replicate running without gravity, brought in bikes and weight machines that could be used in bed and had some of their volunteers work out almost every day, on their backs, for anywhere from a few minutes to an hour.

Others remained totally sedentary as a control. (All the volunteers, between 24 and 55 years old, had passed medical and psychological screenings before the study began and were paid for their participation. None dropped out.)

The exercisers' six-times-a-week routine centered on what the researchers dubbed "undulating periodization," meaning that on some days they did high-intensity intervals of varying length and on others they lifted weights and did some aerobic training.

In more-granular detail, the volunteers sprinted on the sideways treadmill three times a week through high-intensity intervals (while lying sideways, in midair, harnessed to the ceiling). Once a week, the intervals consisted of eight 30-second, all-out sprints; another day of six two-minute intervals; and on a third day, four four-minute intervals, all with brief rests between the sprints.

On alternate days, the volunteers rode stationary, prone bicycles in bed at a brisk pace for about 30 minutes.

Later that same day, they lifted in bed, grunting through squats, leg presses, heel raises and leg curls, using weights heavy enough that they could barely finish eight to 12 repetitions.

The program was calibrated to stress and strengthen multiple aspects of the cardiovascular system and the large lower-body muscles in as little time as possible, Ploutz-Snyder said.

The results indicate the prone workouts succeeded. The exercisers retained most of their muscle and almost all of their endurance, and experienced almost no injuries, apart from ear infections caused by sweat running into their ear canals as they exercised in bed.

But day by day,throughout the study's 70 days, the inactive controls grew less fit and punier. The scientists enrolled them in a separate 11-day exercise and rehabilitation program after the study ended.

"The most compelling part of this story, to me, is that an average of an hour of exercise a day protected people against 23 hours a day of lying in bed," Ploutz-Snyder said. "There's no drug that can do that."

Data in hand, she and her colleagues then persuaded NASA to try the program in space. At the time, the mid-2010s, astronauts were working out for as much as 2.5 hours a day, almost all of it at a moderate pace. Now, some of them started the new routine, running or cycling for a few minutes of short, sharp intervals three times a week and lifting hard but fast other days, while also jogging or riding space bikes for about 30 minutes. Their weekly exercise time dropped by more than half. (Since the study ended, International Space Station astronauts have continued to mix intense and moderate exercise, although in different combinations.)

Meir, who was in space for 205 days during the International Space Station missions in 2019 and 2020, lauds the effects of her workouts there. "Exercise on the International Space Station is an incredibly important part of our routine," she said.

Lessons for exercising on Earth

The astronauts in the study returned to Earth with much - although not all - of their endurance and strength intact.

There is a lesson in both their losses and gains for the rest of us, Ploutz-Snyder said. Long hours of sitting are not dissimilar, physiologically, to floating in space. Our muscles, hearts and lungs idle when we sit and, if that inactivity continues, lose function.

So, get up and move, Ploutz-Snyder said. Any activity will be better than none. But for an efficient, effective exercise routine, she said, try the scientifically tested space workout, just not from bed. Use a bike or treadmill (located on the floor, not the wall) or walk at high speed up a hill. If it seems daunting, thread in the interval sessions over a few weeks.

The full program can slot easily into most of our schedules, she said, and has an insinuating appeal.

"It's efficient," she said, and effective, and as an added endorsement, "many of the astronauts continued with the program after their missions ended."
Do you have a fitness question? Email YourMove@washpost.com and we may answer your question in a future column.
Sign up for the Well+Being newsletter, your source of expert advice and simple tips to help you live well every day

Read more from Well+Being

Well+Being shares news and advice for living well every day. Sign up for our newsletter to get tips directly in your inbox.

Body: What's the difference between RSV, the flu and covid-19? You don't have to worry about your stomach exploding if you overeat. For some with ADHD, brown noise quiets the brain.

Life: The Well+Being gift guide has our picks for the body, mind, pets and more. These five tips from experts can help students take a mental health break from college. What to feed and not feed pets from holiday dishes.

Food: Diet changes can improve sleep apnea, even without weight loss. Fiber alters the microbiome and may boost cancer treatment. How to support your sober friends when everyone is drinking.

Fitness: Dogs and humans both can get dementia, and more walks can help. Pickleball is popular, but how much exercise are you really getting? This is the speedy scientific workout you can do almost anywhere.

Mind: Tips for parents to help teens struggling with mental health issues. Want to feel happier? Try snacking on joy. Three ways to fix sleep issues when nothing else works.

More Well+Being articles about Fitness

HAND CURATED

View 3 more stories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
To counter the effect of sitting too much, try the astronaut workout

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Exercise like an astronaut and you might avoid the unhealthy effects of sitting too much, according to recent studies about the benefits of space workouts. The research, which involved astronauts on the International Space Station and bed-bound volunteers in Houston, suggest that the right mix of scientifically tested exercises can stave off undesirable physical consequences from being weightless on the space station - or inactive for long hours on Earth.

# data[].attributes.headline
Schools struggle to hire more mental health professionals for students

# data[].attributes.subject
Schools struggle to hire more mental health professionals for students

# data[].attributes.body
This article from PBS discusses a barrier that many students around the country are facing involving their mental health. Schools are struggling to hire enough mental health professionals to address the mental health needs of their students. There are fewer school counselors returning to districts, and the school counselors that are left have much higher caseloads. Higher caseloads make it difficult for students to get the attention and help they need. This article relates to discussing health in the classroom because of the implications it has for students. Many students are not receiving the mental health services they need in school, and the repercussions of that can be seen in the classroom. Teachers need to be aware of this health crisis in students and frame their classroom accordingly.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Mira Ugwuadu felt anxious and depressed when she returned to her high school in Cobb County, Georgia, last fall after months of remote learning, so she sought help. But her school counselor kept rescheduling their meetings because she had so many students to see.

"I felt helpless and alone," the 12th grader later said.
READ MORE: Universities focus on athlete mental health after recent tragedies
Despite an influx of COVID-19 relief money, school districts across the country have struggled to staff up to address students' mental health needs that have only grown since the pandemic hit.

Among 18 of the country's largest school districts, 12 started this school year with fewer counselors or psychologists than they had in fall 2019, according to an analysis by Chalkbeat. As a result, many school mental health professionals have caseloads that far exceed recommended limits, according to experts and advocates, and students must wait for urgently needed help.

Some of the extra need for support has been absorbed by social workers - their ranks have grown by nearly 50 percent since before the pandemic, federal data shows - but they have different clinical training from other mental health professionals and many other duties, including helping families. Districts included in the analysis, which serve a combined 3 million students, started the year with nearly 1,000 unfilled mental health positions.

Hiring challenges are largely to blame, but some school systems have invested relief money in other priorities. The Cobb County district, for one, has not added any new counselors.

"They have so many students that they're dealing with," said Mira, 17. "I personally don't want to blame them. But I also deserve care and support, too."
WATCH: Lack of adequate mental health care places heavy burden on young people
A spokesperson for Cobb County Public Schools said school counselor positions are based on a state funding formula, and the district strongly supports more funding.

The Chalkbeat analysis is based on school staffing and vacancy data obtained through open records requests. The 31 largest districts in the U.S. were surveyed, but some did not track or provide data.

Some school systems used federal relief money to add mental health staff, but others did not because they worried about affording them once the aid runs out. Districts have limited time to spend the nearly $190 billion allocated for recovery.

"Here's this conundrum that we're in," said Christy McCoy, the president of the School Social Work Association of America. "It's like we are trying to put a Band-Aid on something that needs a more comprehensive and integrated approach."

Many of the schools that have wanted to hire more mental health workers simply can't find them. School psychologist positions have been particularly hard to fill.

Chicago, for example, added 32 school psychologist positions since fall 2019 but ended up with just one additional psychologist on staff this fall. Dozens of positions couldn't be filled.
READ MORE: With students in turmoil, U.S. teachers train in mental health
Schools in Hillsborough County, Florida eliminated dozens of unfilled psychologist positions, leaving schools with 33 fewer psychologists this fall than pre-pandemic. Houston schools also cut more than a dozen psychologist roles it couldn't fill before the pandemic. Instead, the district used the money to pay outside providers and hire psychologist interns.

With their extended training, school psychologists are relied upon to provide intensive one-on-one counseling and help determine whether students are at risk for suicide.

In Maryland, a shortage of psychologists at Montgomery County Public Schools has kept the short-staffed department focused on crisis intervention and providing legally mandated services like special education assessments, said Christina Connolly-Chester, director of psychological services. That has meant they cannot keep up with other, less urgent counseling services.

"If that psychologist has more schools because there are vacancies and they're not able to spend as much time in their assigned schools, then things like counseling go away," she said.

The district sought to hire staff to address increased student needs such as anxiety, depression and struggles with conflict management, but still had 30 vacant psychologist positions, a district official said this month.

Even before the pandemic, some schools struggled to find psychologists. New practitioners have not been entering the field fast enough, and others have been switching to telehealth or private practices with higher pay and often better working conditions.

"We can't afford to pay professionals enough to make it a desirable position," said Sharon Hoover, a psychologist who co-directs the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland.

Counselor staffing has been a challenge for some districts, too, with nine of the large districts down counselors this year, while another nine saw increases.

Where hiring has been toughest, schools have turned to alternatives. In Hawaii, which had 31 vacant counselor positions and 20 vacant psychologist roles at the start of the year, the state has trained educators to spot signs that a student is in distress - an increasingly common practice - and pays a private company to provide tele-mental health services.

It isn't just hiring challenges that have led to smaller-than-expected staffing increases. Some school systems spent most of their federal aid on more lasting investments, such as technology or building repairs. And many opted not to add new mental health workers at all.

In the Chalkbeat analysis, half of the 18 large districts budgeted for fewer counselor or psychologist positions this school year than they did in fall 2019.

In April, just 4 in 10 districts reported hiring new staffers to address students' mental health needs, according to a national survey.

"For all the talk about mental health, the actual money they're spending on it is not that high," said Phyllis Jordan, associate director of FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University that tracks school spending. School districts only planned to spend about 2 percent of the largest round of federal COVID aid on mental health hiring, according to the group's analysis of more than 5,000 district spending plans.

One bright spot in the school mental health landscape, though, is the increase in social workers.

Montgomery County in Maryland, Gwinnett County in Georgia, and Orange, Broward, and Palm Beach counties in Florida all started the year with dozens more social workers than they had in fall 2019. Chicago added the most - nearly 150 additional social workers - in part due to staffing promises in the latest teachers union contract.

The Chalkbeat analysis echoes national data collected by the White House that show the number of school social workers was up 48 percent this fall compared with before the pandemic, while the number of school counselors was up a more modest 12 percent and the count of school psychologists inched up 4 percent.

In Houston, staffing increases meant nearly every school started this fall with a counselor or social worker.

Newly hired social worker Natalie Rincon is able to meet one-on-one with students who are in crisis and teach other students calming strategies, such as tracing their hand with a finger while breathing.

Still, need often outstrips capacity at Rincon's school, where many students are refugees or recent immigrants coping with trauma. She often has to prioritize helping students with urgent issues, leaving less time to check in on others.

"I want to be able to meet with a kindergartner just to talk about how they're feeling," Rincon said. "Those are the kind of things that I think slip through the cracks."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Schools struggle to hire more mental health professionals for students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mira Ugwuadu felt anxious and depressed when she returned to her high school in Cobb County, Georgia, last fall after months of remote learning, so she sought help. But her school counselor kept rescheduling their meetings because she had so many students to see. "I felt helpless and alone," the 12th grader later said.

# data[].attributes.headline
Air Pollution Affecting US Public School Students

# data[].attributes.subject
Air Pollution Affecting US Public School Students

# data[].attributes.body
This article from Science Daily discusses the disparity in air pollution exposure to marginalized groups impacting health and wellness, specifically in relation to school aged children. Low-income schools tend to be located in heavily air polluted areas near road ways and industries. Student spend most of their days in schools, exposed to this air pollution. Long term exposure to pollutants PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide are high risk for children, with a chance of leading to asthma or other respiratory conditions as well as increased risk of hospitalization or death. This article pertains to teaching health to elementary students because it directly impacts them, especially in low-income areas. There is not much teachers can do to prevent this exposure other than increase awareness in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Air pollution high at US public schools with kids from marginalized groups: New study finds disparities in exposure by region, across the rural/urban divide and between economic and racial or ethnic makeup of students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Race- and ethnicity-based discrepancies in exposure to air pollution, especially regarding proximity to roadways and industrial zones, are well-established. A new study reports the first nationwide patterns in atmospheric fine particulate pollution and nitrogen dioxide exposure at U.S. public school…

# data[].attributes.body
This article from CBS News covers a story from Oakland, California of a father who lost his child to gun violence. Donald Lacy lost his 16-year-old daughter, LoEshe, to gun violence 25 years ago. He created the LoveLife Foundation to promote peace in the community and to help families who are grieving the loss of loved ones to gun violence. The LoveLife Foundation has made a great impact in the lives of those in the community. In a discussion of community violence, it is important to teach students that there are efforts being done to bring peace. For children who may have experienced community violence, it is also important to know that there are resources available for support. If this topic needs to be talked about in an elementary school classroom (it's especially important if children are exposed to violence in the community) it is necessary to accompany such a difficult topic with an uplifting story to help children cope.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Oakland dad who lost child to gun violence builds victim support community

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A father who lost his daughter 25 years ago to gun violence is spreading a message of love in Oakland.