Boston Council hears calls to expand youth mental health services without diagnosis requirement

BOSTON — July 11, 2024 — Boston City Council committee holds hearing on youth mental health barriers and a $21 million city investment. The Committee on Public Health, Homelessness, and Recovery convened Thursday around docket 0478, sponsored by Councilor Tanya Fernandez-Anderson, to examine how Boston can expand access to mental health services for young people who fear the stigma of formal diagnosis. Dr. Kevin Simon, Chief Behavioral Health Officer at the Boston Public Health Commission, told the panel that more than 40 percent of Boston Public Schools students report feeling sad, hopeless, or anxious — up from roughly 27 percent in 2015 — and outlined three diagnosis-free initiatives funded through the city's $21 million behavioral health investment, including a trauma-informed school pilot at 10 BPS schools and the new Heads Up Boston awareness campaign. Boston Indicators Senior Research Manager Kelly Harrington presented 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data showing the suicide consideration rate among BPS middle schoolers jumped from 23 percent to 28 percent in two years, and that lesbian, gay, or bisexual students attempted suicide at nearly six times the rate of straight students. Jessica LaRochelle of the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health flagged a MassHealth bulletin covering up to six preventive behavioral health visits for youth ages 0 to 21 without a formal diagnosis that she called "underutilized," and noted a peer-to-peer text line called Hey Sam has served more than 3,000 Boston-area youth since launching in March 2022. Fenway Health Trans Health Program Manager Steph DeGerman cited a 2023 Trevor Project survey finding 56 percent of LGBTQ young people who wanted mental health care last year could not access it.