TRENTON, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Gov. Phil Murphy has signed a new bill into law that requires schools to report on child mental health, as the state is seeing an uptick in teen mental illness and suicide.
The law’s sponsor, Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt, says it is essential to better understand what kids are going through and why there has been an increase in depression and other mental health disorders in young people.
The goal is to save lives by learning about the best ways of preventing suicide. She said it “focuses on trying to capture what each one of our school districts are actually doing in the schools as it pertains to suicide prevention.”
She says they want to identify some of the best practices being used by schools and find ways to share that with others to hopefully save lives.
“It really helps to formulate what can you do, what’s in our control to do. And these are the things that are definitely in our control, that we can act upon to minimize the negativity around mental health,” Lampitt said.
“We need to increase opportunities for people to find mental health providers.”
According to national statistics, the suicide rate among children ages 12 to 17 increased 16% between 2008 and 2020.