Mental Health Services in New Hampshire’s Schools

Full Report (PDF)

Brief Description

As the Center has noted previously, as many as 55,756 children, ages 5 – 19 have a diagnosable mental health disorder and almost 14,000 have a serious emotional disturbance.Most of these children are educated in the New Hampshire public school system. Understanding if, and how, public schools manage the behavioral health issues of their students is of obvious public policy significance. 

Despite this policy significance, comprehensive information about the role of schools in mental health services in New Hampshire is not available. This work – combining surveys of both school districts and schools and interviews with community mental health centers across the state – is designed to be an initial assessment of how this system is administered and funded, the mental health conditions driving this system, the services that it provides, and the manner in which the system assesses its progress in ensuring the mental well being of its children.