Credit: (Motjaba Ravanbakhsh via Unsplash)

Homing in on an issue that has drawn a lot of attention lately, Gov. Phil Murphy proposed a number of mental health programs in his budget address on Tuesday, including ones for students and others in crisis.

Almost inevitably, however, the proposals rekindled a debate over what’s the best path when it comes to mental health services and whether the governor was doing enough to address the needs.

The boost in proposed funding arrives as young people nationwide battle a mental health crisis heightened by the ongoing pandemic and a shortage of counselors and other professionals in many areas.

According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40% of surveyed high school students felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for the previous two weeks that they stopped doing their usual activities.

Under Murphy’s plan to address the crisis, the state would set aside $43 million to build out student mental health services through a regional “hub-and-spoke” model that may eventually include telehealth counseling. The regional centers — 15 in all — would work with school districts to provide services remotely and in person, via online counseling, prevention services and “real world” sessions.

New mental health network

“This budget will launch the New Jersey Statewide Student Support Services Network to help countless more students focus on mental health wellness,” said Murphy in his budget address. “And it will also enhance our overall investment in the Department of Children and Families and the Children’s System of Care to more fully support the needs of our young people,” he added.

But the proposed model has been a point of contention for many advocates of the current school-based youth services programs, who argue that students would be better served by keeping services in school buildings.

“He missed the mark greatly,” said Gary Nelson, the director of school-based programs for the Center for Family Guidance, a for-profit organization that offers behavioral health services to individuals, families and organizations.

“He was kind of making himself … one of the leaders of thought inside of mental health and education, but he really addressed education and mental health as two different things,” Nelson said.

Other advocates were disappointed that Murphy did not mention the current school-based youth services programs. The state will continue to fund the current school-based model while building out the regional “hub-and-spoke” program, officials said.

“We also really strongly believe that the school-based programs are incredibly important,” said Julie Larrea Borst, the executive director of Save Our Schools New Jersey Community Organizing, an advocacy organization that supports the current school-based programs. “We just don’t really know enough about it (the hub-and-spoke model) at this point.”

More services

Murphy also spoke about other mental health programs that his administration will continue to address in the upcoming fiscal year.

One will be the expansion of a pilot program that pairs a police officer with a mental health specialist on emergency calls. In February, Murphy proposed $10 million in the upcoming budget to grow the program statewide. The program now operates in three counties and will expand to 10 counties by May.

But even as popular as that program has been, some advocates say it has shortcomings.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want to explore alternatives to the current model of crisis response,” said Marleina Ubel, a policy analyst and state policy fellow at New Jersey Policy Perspective. “But I’m a little disappointed that there were not more proactive investments made in crisis responses that do not involve police officers.”

The proposed budget seeks to include $40 million more to support mental health providers in the state Department of Children and Families and will also include more than $86 million for a state program that aims to train and recruit mental health, substance-use and developmental disability service providers.

But even with that $86 million investment, some lawmakers wondered if this funding will be adequate.

“There’s not enough resources in our budgets right now to fund the counselors that we need and there’s not enough counselors to receive those funds right now,” said state Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex), one of the Legislature’s most outspoken advocates for expanding mental health services.

“We’re behind the eight ball, let’s make no mistake about it,” Codey said. “We’ve got to play catch-up.”