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GPB News Senior Health Care Reporter Shares Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship Features

Mental Health Awareness Month is observed each May to raise awareness of those living with mental or behavioral health issues and to help reduce the stigma people experience.

As part of GPB’s overall community engagement initiatives, we’ve created a web page at gpb.org/mental-health. You can find a variety of resources there, including reports from GPB News. This month GPB News’ Ellen Eldridge shares a series of features she did as part of the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship.

I’m Ellen Eldridge, Georgia Public Broadcasting’s senior health care reporter. I recently completed a Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism fellowship. My project resulted in a series of features about school-based behavioral health in Georgia, and any effects caused or worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Georgia’s Apex Program started in 2015 as a partnership between community-based mental health providers and local school districts. The “apex” is the students who are most at risk for behavioral health issues like substance use disorder and depression.

My first feature in the series examined how Apex works in Georgia, and how COVID changed it.

Before the pandemic, teachers spent more time with students than many students did with their own families, but, when students had the greatest need for the state’s Apex program services, they were at home.

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A student who lost an uncle, her brother, and a classmate took it upon herself to organize a countywide Out of the Darkness Campus Walk. She did this to both raise awareness and destigmatize mental health needs. The North Georgia high school students advocated for school counselors and open communication about suicide.

In my third and final feature, I noted Georgia has one school psychologist for every 6,390 students. The recommended ratio is 1 to 500.

My final feature of the series examines the ways people are being encouraged to work in the field of school counseling.

This is the beginning for me, not the end. While my fellowship year is over, I take with me many resources through the Carter Center network that will inform my reporting for Georgia Public Broadcasting.