Chesterfield County doesn’t have enough psychologists, nurses or school workers to adequately address a growing mental health crisis in its schools, according to a report from the county’s School Health Advisory Board.
Sarah Sneed, a clinical psychologist and the health advisory board’s vice chair, told VPM News that mental health specialists in Chesterfield schools deal with “a far greater caseload” than specialists in other school districts.
“There’s been at least a 10-year increase in mental health problems nationwide and in Virginia,” Sneed said in an interview. “It is the opinion of the School Health Advisory Board here … that Chesterfield schools increase funding in specialists in youth mental health in order to respond to this crisis in youth mental health that we’re seeing.”
Sneed and advisory board chair Dr. Lindsay Ewan presented the report during the school board’s Oct. 8 meeting, citing several examples of troubling mental health markers for students in Chesterfield and across the state:
- Chesterfield employs one school psychologist per 1,778 students, far below the ratio of 1 per 500 students recommended by the National Association of School Psychologists.
- Around 20% of Chesterfield students are chronically absent, missing more than 10% of class periods. Before the pandemic, only 8% of students met that threshold.
- Virginia ranks No. 48 in the country in youth mental health, per the nonprofit Mental Health America. A high proportion of young people experienced major depressive episodes in 2023. Additionally, 1 in 6 Virginia children covered by private insurance policies do not have coverage for mental or emotional issues.
The advisory board is recommending the school division increase funding to fill 21 positions Sneed said were needed — including psychologists, nurses and social workers.
Midlothian District representative Lisa Hudgins called the advisory board’s presentation “sobering.”
“I think it’s important that we think about students experiencing psychological stress, that we’re not thinking about common stress that’s a part of life,” she said after the meeting. “What we’re seeing is a far more serious problem.”
