Julie Leopo for EdSource

SB 1229 would award grants of up to $25,000 to individuals pursuing careers in youth mental health.

Bailey Adling would stay up a few days until 3 a.m. to prepare for his master’s degree in school counseling, then wake up at 7 a.m. to work a full day as a substitute teacher. He was so exhausted that he often considered quitting the program.

While Priscilla Park was enrolled full-time in her graduate counseling program, she taught school during the day and gave up her social life, while paying off her six-figure undergraduate loans.

Even the state’s top educator, Superintendent Tony Thurmond, struggled to make ends meet while earning his master’s degree in social work 20 years ago. If he hadn’t had a paid internship, he says, he never would have made it.

Now Thurmond is pushing for a bill that would provide up to $25,000 in grants to students pursuing careers in school counseling, social work and other fields related to youth mental health. Senate Bill 1229 aims to bring 10,000 new mental health professionals to young Californians, who have battled rising rates of depression, anxiety and stress.

“This is one of the most important bills to come out of the Legislative Assembly this year,” Thurmond said. “Virtually every college student in California has suffered from mental health issues. If the pandemic weren’t enough, there’s the fallout from school shootings, wildfires, economic uncertainty. … We are at a critical moment and we must do all we can to help.

More grants available in Newsom’s budget

Governor Gavin Newsom’s revised budget also includes incentives for those considering a career in school mental health. According to his proposal, the Golden State Teacher Grant Program would expand to include school counselors, social workers and psychologists, as well as teachers already eligible since 2020. Those who are eligible could get up to $20,000 in grants for help offset public school tuition. or private universities.

Under SB 1229, those grants could be $5,000 higher than the governor’s plan. If the bill passes, which is likely because it has so far met with no opposition, students could start receiving these scholarships as early as this fall. The bill would cost $250 million in total, with funds coming from the state surplus.

Subsidies could boost diversity

To become a school counselor in California, candidates must earn a master’s degree in school counseling, usually a two-year commitment that includes at least 600 hours of fieldwork at a school. These internships are often unpaid, which means that many potential counselors take out loans to cover tuition fees as well as living expenses.

Tuition for California State University’s 15 graduate counseling programs, which train the majority of school counselors in California, is approximately $20,000. State grants could make a big difference for students who otherwise couldn’t afford to become school counselors, said Caroline Lopez-Perry, associate professor in the school counseling program at California State University Long Beach. .

“It’s a really strategic way to ensure a strong, cohesive workforce in the school counseling field,” Lopez-Perry said. “The need for financial aid can be a barrier to diversity in the program, so this is a good way to address that.”

Due to tuition costs and time commitment, most people who pursue school counseling tend to be middle or upper income and white – despite the growing diversity of the K-12 population of the state as a whole. Advocates have called on schools to recruit and hire more black and Latino counselors, who may be better able to connect with students from these groups. According to SB 1229, nearly 8 million Californians — many of whom are black, Latino and Native American — live in communities lacking mental health professionals.

If either or both of SB 1229 and the governor’s budget proposal pass, they would provide welcome respite for students in CSU’s graduate programs, who typically receive little financial aid and depend on mainly loans, said system spokeswoman Toni Molle.

“Offering $25,000 will help students pay for programs and potentially help them work full time while pursuing higher education,” she said. “It may also encourage students working in the field to return to school to pursue a graduate program.”

In some regions, a tight labor market

A possible hitch for SB 1229 is the job market and Cal State’s ability to train more school counselors. Since the pandemic, school districts across California have hired more counselors and social workers to support student mental health needs, but the job market is still tight in some areas for new grads and the state n does not require districts to have councilors or social services. workers at all.

A recent search on EdJoin, an online job site for California educators, showed 493 openings for school counselors. It’s unclear how 10,000 additional counselors, social workers and other mental health professionals will be able to find work, especially in competitive areas like Los Angeles or the Bay Area.

But Thurmond is confident that districts will continue to expand their counseling and social worker staff, and that these 10,000 new mental health professionals will find positions – especially in rural and low-income areas, where needs are greatest. more important. And they won’t be limited to schools, according to the bill: They could also work in community clinics, public health agencies or nonprofits that provide mental health services to young people. The grants are also not limited to school counselors, social workers or psychologists – marriage or family therapists and clinical social workers and counselors are also eligible to participate.

San Bernardino City Unified is among the districts that have expanded their council staff and is grateful for all efforts to increase and diversify the pool of qualified candidates. The district currently has 82 counselors and 65 psychologists, and recently hired 16 nurses and a social worker.

“It is important that our legislators understand the diverse needs of our students and the resources and support structures that schools need to effectively serve the ‘whole’ student, not just the academic part of the student,” said district spokeswoman Maria Garcia.

Hiring 10,000 new mental health professionals won’t solve the mental health crisis overnight, nor will it work if it’s an isolated measure, Thurmond said. It is meant to be part of the larger state effort to help troubled youth. The state’s recent $3 billion investment in community schools with on-campus clinics, as well as investments in social-emotional learning, summer and after-school enrichment programs, Medi-Cal’s ties to schools, Universal Early Childhood Education and other initiatives also aim to ease students through the difficult final years.

“It would be a huge burden lifted”

For Priscilla Park, a recent school counseling graduate and Buena Park resident, the path to becoming a school counselor began with her own experience as a high school student. The daughter of immigrants, she lacked guidance when applying to college and ended up in far more debt than she was comfortable when she enrolled in a private college in Illinois. .

“I just thought it was something everyone did, it was the price of an education,” Park said. “I had no financial knowledge.” She then enrolled in a counseling program at Cal State Long Beach.

While working as a teacher, she knew it would take decades before she could repay her college loans, a fact that constantly weighed on her. By becoming a counselor, she could earn more money and prevent other students from making the same mistakes she did.

The idea of ​​$25,000 grants, she says, “is amazing. It would be a huge burden for so many barely succeeding students – having multiple jobs, supporting families.

For Bailey Adling, a $25,000 grant would have made a huge difference to her graduate school experience at Cal State Long Beach. For starters, he wouldn’t have had to work several days a week as a substitute teacher, which would have allowed him to focus more on his classroom work and internships.

“It’s tough. You’re trying to support students and be there for them, while you’re just trying to survive yourself, wondering if your basic needs are going to be met this month,” he said. he said. “It has an impact on your own mental health.”

Although he struggled, Adling has no regrets. He plans to complete his master’s degree this summer and start working as a school counselor this fall. He has already had five job interviews.

“Now that I’m almost done, I know this is the career I love,” he said. “School counselors have such an important role to play. I am so excited to do this job. That’s what I was meant to be.

Thurmond worked as a youth social worker for about a decade in Oakland and elsewhere before running for office. His experience with youth in need “informed everything I’ve done as a legislator and as a state superintendent,” he said.

But he knows firsthand how difficult it can be to enter the profession. As a graduate student in social work at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, he felt lucky to land a paid internship and a job that included housing. Without it, he says, he would never have graduated.

“I’m grateful that we have the resources right now to fund these initiatives,” Thurmond said. “No other state has prioritized student mental health as aggressively as California. I hope other states move in the same direction.

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