AUGUSTA, Maine — According to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, 15 percent of children ages 6 to 11 have an ongoing emotional, developmental, or behavioral condition that requires treatment or counseling.
A bill introduced to Maine lawmakers would have addressed funding issues for in-school mental health services by creating a grant program through the Maine Department of Education. However, LD 2002 failed to pass.
Sweetser is a nonprofit organization that offers mental health, recovery, and educational services throughout Maine including in-school services.
"We served over 2,000 children last year from Kittery to Bangor in over 100 public schools, but no organization can sustain a $1 million-plus loss every year," Sweetser President and CEO Jayne Van Bramer said.
After LD 2002 failed to pass, the nonprofit is having to scale back its operations even more.
"The problem with the funding really has more to do with the non-billable activities," Van Bramer said. "This program is funded like a clinic in the community, where you have a line of people coming in every 45 minutes, and you're billing for that direct face-to-face time. That's not how a school operates. You're going to meetings, you're talking to counselors, you're going to IEP meetings, you're talking to the coach on the field."
The Windham-Raymond School District used to have a few Sweetser clinicians, but now there's only one.
"Here at RSU 14, we have one clinician that's left here at Windham Primary School. At one point we had three if not four clinicians that worked within the district," Superintendent Chris Howell said. "What I'm just seeing is dwindling services, and so kids that aren't having those needs met have a difficult day at school."
Despite this financial setback, the nonprofit said mental health will continue to be a priority.
"We will be working with the legislature and coming back next January, the next session, with another bill that we are hoping will pass that will not only save this program for Sweetser but for other community behavioral health organizations that provide these services in our public schools," Van Bramer said.
Sweetser is only cutting back on in-school mental health services right now, not eliminating them.
Northern Light Health also provides in-school mental health services to 18 different schools in Maine.
The organization testified on behalf of LD 2002 earlier this year.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, also announced he is co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation to boost the availability of mental health services in public schools in Maine and around the country.