This story was published on Patch.
Prior to March 2021, mental health was not a valid excused absence at schools throughout Arizona. Senate Bills 1097 and 1376 were introduced and signed into law in 2021, and advocate for de-stigmatization of mental health within educational institutions.
Christine Marsh was a co-sponsor for Senate Bill 1097 and is a senator for Legislative District 28. According to the Arizona Independent Redistricting website, District 28 consists of parts of Arcadia, Paradise Valley, Sunnyslope, North Central Phoenix and more.
“The legislator’s primary job is to pass the budget,” Marsh said. “All the bills are assigned to a committee and the committee chairperson decides whether to put that bill on an agenda or not. Just because a bill is assigned to a committee, doesn’t mean it’s going to actually get a hearing.”
According to the Arizona State Legislature website, bill 1097 was signed by the governor on March 18, and states, “The department of education shall identify an absence due to the mental or behavioral health of a pupil as an excused absence.” The bill was enacted into law, A.R.S. §15-807.
“There are traumas and stresses and anxieties that kids are going through and to have to lie about it and have a parent call in and say my child is sick, I don't think does justice to mental health issues nor to that particular student,” Marsh said. “This [the bill] will in a small way, reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues.”
Bill 1376 states, “The state board of education shall require that all health education instruction include mental health instruction,” and Marsh was in favor of this bill as well. The bill was enacted into law, A.R.S. §15-701.02. Marsh has an extensive understanding of the education committee and education bills as she is currently a teacher. Marsh has taught for over 30 years and was 2016 Arizona Teacher of the year.
“It brings a much deeper perspective than having been a teacher, past tense,” Marsh said. “So if we are talking about COVID-19 issues, I am living that in the classroom so it’s been very valuable to be able to teach and serve as a senator at the same time.”
Creating bills and laws to combat mental health in students and have schools support their students through times of struggle is so important because of just how prevalent mental health issues are among kids. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, “7.1% of children aged 3-17 years (approximately 4.4 million) have diagnosed anxiety” and, “3.2% of children aged 3-17 years (approximately 1.9 million) have diagnosed depression.”
Gabriela Bravo, student and Arizona resident, has a seven-year-old niece in first grade who has dealt with mental health during her educational career, as do most students. Bravo’s niece goes to Bicentennial South Elementary School.
“I know that they [the school] discuss things like treating people with kindness and practicing healthy relationships but I unfortunately don’t think they discuss mental health,” Bravo said. “Just because they are younger people doesn't mean they are not people with emotions and feelings and struggles which can take a very real toll on them.”
Bravo’s sister in law, her niece’s mother, advocates for communicating and discussing mental health in their home. Whenever Bravo’s niece doesn’t feel well mentally, her mother allows her to miss school and figure out ways to talk about her feelings, find a better outlook and deal with her emotions. Bravo believes her niece is getting a better, more open experience to mental health than she did in school, despite also having a supportive mother like her niece.
“I grew up in a predominantly Latino community so talking about mental health and mental illness was not very accepted socially. Usually if you don’t look sick you aren’t sick is the way things go,” Bravo said. “Machismo combined with negative mental health issue stigmas makes for an environment where kids can’t and don’t feel safe sharing their struggles and many, of whom I even knew as a kid, end up internalizing much of this pain because they never were taught to express their emotions in a healthy and safe manner.”
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