May 26 is Connecticut’s Get Outside and Play for Children’s Mental Health Day

Conrad Vahlsing Sr. Staff Attorney, CABE

Last year’s Public Act 22-81 requires the Governor to annually proclaim May 26 as Get Outside and Play for Children’s Mental Health Day

According to the Act, the purpose of the commemoration is “to raise awareness about issues relating to children’s mental health and the positive effect that being outdoors has on children’s mental health and wellness.”

The commemoration is just a small part of the state legislature’s recent attention to children and mental health, as there have been a number of laws enacted over the past two years that have addressed the topic, including:

• Public Act 22-81 (An Act Expanding Preschool and Mental Behavioral Services for Children)

• Public Act 22-47 (An Act Concerning Children’s Mental Health)

• Public Act 22-80 (An Act Concerning Childhood Mental and Physical Health Services in

School)

• Public Act 21-46 (An Act Concerning Social Equity and the Health, Safety and Education of Children)

And those Public Acts do not even contain every legislative change on the topic over the past two years.

As for the May 26 proclamation, Connecticut is not the only state to enshrine such a day into law, but rather is part of a trend occurring in other states (Utah, California, Maine, Florida, Texas, and New Jersey are just a handful of states with similar commemorations). However, Connecticut’s tie-in to outdoor play and exercise is less common among the proclamations.

Nationally, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (an offshoot of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services) has been designating a shifting day in early May as “The National Children’s Mental Awareness Day” since the early 2000s.

Going even further back, since

1945 the month of May has been designated as Mental Health Awareness Month by the national non-profit organization, Mental Health America. As a point of Connecticut pride, that organization’s founder was Clifford W. Beers, born in New Haven and a Yale graduate. He founded the group in 1909.

As for Connecticut schools districts’ responsibility in commemorating May 26, the schools must hold “[s]uitable exercises” on the day. Under the law (contained in Sections

11 and 12 of the Act), if May 26 is not a school day, the commemoration should occur either on the preceding school day or on any other day the local or regional board chooses.

As an assist, the Connecticut State Department of Education is required to annually notify districts about the day, and in that notice provide suggestions or materials for such “suitable exercises” in observance of the day. Under the law, the CSDE is required to offer this notice begining with 2022-23 school year.

Note that the annual May 26 proclamation is separate from the 2021 law regarding students’ mental health wellness days. Under Public Act 21-46, and having started with the 2021-22 school year, local and regional districts are required to allow students in grades K-12 two absences where “a student attends to such student’s emotional and psychological well-being in lieu of attending school.” However, under that law, students are not permitted to take these mental health wellness days on consecutive school days.