According to a recent report, about 20% of students have seriously considered committing suicide.  In another report, 75% of students stated that they dealt with anxiety, 43% had problems at home, and 32% felt dejected.  Nearly 65% of students stated that while they felt like they needed professional support, they were not comfortable speaking to friends or family members about their mental well-being. 
 
For student-athletes, their coaches are often the ones they feel most comfortable talking to regarding their mental health struggles. However, coaches typically are not trained to deal with such issues.  A recent study surveying more than 10,000 youth coaches found that only 18% of the coaches felt highly confident in their ability to link athletes to mental health resources; 67% of the coaches expressed a desire for more training and information on the subject.
 
To help provide students and coaches with the resources and training they need and deserve, I will be introducing legislation that would:
 

• Require each school entity to notify athletic staff, extracurricular advisors, students and their parents/guardians of mental health services available within the school entity or within the community in which the school entity is located.  Notifications would be made twice each school year.
• Require that a school entity’s student assistance program be notified if a student's participation in a school-sponsored athletic or extracurricular activity is interrupted so that mental health services could be made available to the student. 
• Require the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association to review its existing coaching education requirements and revise the required educational courses for the training of coaches to include student mental health awareness.

 
Please join me in support of this important legislation.