During the recent kickoff event for Gorham School Committee’s 2025-2026 budget process, Gorham High School Principal Brian Jandreau noted a dramatic increase over the past four years in the number of students seeking mental health support from the school’s social work staff. Jandreau shared data collected annually by the school’s trained social workers, drawing stark comparisons between the pre-pandemic 2018-2019 data and that of the 2023-2024 school year.
Two full-time school social workers are tasked with handling the mental health support effort for most of the 820 students at GHS. While 262 general education students sought support in the 2018- 2019 school year, that number jumped to 462 students in 2023-2024. Some students who receive special education services also may have social work services provided as part of their individualized education plan in order to meet their academic goals. The number of students with legally required social work support jumped from 39 in the 2018-2019 school year to 70 high school students in the 2023-2024 school year; these students receive support from a social worker who is dedicated solely to the special education population of the high school.
Principal Jandreau explained that according to well established human development principles, people must have their basic needs such as physiological and emotional safety and well-being met in order to engage in tasks such as learning. The increased needs of students for additional mental health support services and a lack of community based mental health professionals who are accepting new or youth patients has forced current school social work staff to triage needs, leaving them unable to see all students who need them.
Claudine Emerson, a licensed mental health and substance abuse counselor who has been a GHS staff member for over twenty years, explained that the counselors meet first with students in immediate crisis or who pose a threat to the safety of themselves or others, but that they are also trying to support students with ongoing mental health needs, including those struggling with trauma, grief, depression, or difficulty with interpersonal relationships. Jandreau elaborated on the impossibility of the situation by dividing the number of students currently seeking services by the number of school days and hours in those days to demonstrate that the two general education counselors, Emerson and colleague Cynthia Grover, are only able to provide on average 4 hours per year to each student seeking social work support. Principal Jandreau’s explanation drew concerns from School Committee members who were present, who noted that this was not nearly enough time to adequately address the traumas and needs with which students are presenting.
Emerson and Grover work with students and their families to help them find outside counseling services when appropriate, but limited options and the high cost, often out of pocket, for private mental health services has pushed many families to rely more on the school staff to fill the gap.
Emerson explained that there is a continuum of care that is provided to students; some seek assistance or support from classroom teachers or school counselors within the guidance department, but that an increasing number of students are needing the higher degree of clinical care that is provided by licensed social workers.
The data gathered reveals that while some areas of need have remained relatively stable, other mental health needs have seen a significant jump in Gorham. The number of students seeking support around substance use issues was 32 in 2018-2019 and 37 in 2023-2024, and support with family issues remained steady at 58 and 59, respectively. But the number of students seeking support for anxiety jumped from 43 to 105, assistance with depression also more than doubled from 41 to 95, and students who experienced significant trauma also rose substantially from 34 to 56 students.
Gorham is not alone. Education, medical and mental health professionals nationwide have noted an increase in reported mental health issues for teens, particularly following the global COVID-19 pandemic. While there are hypotheses as to why, such as social media and isolation, not all are problematic. Emerson noted, for example, that significant efforts have been made at the national, state and local levels to raise awareness about the importance of mental health, and the stigma of seeking help has diminished. But she also noted that students seem to struggle more with skills like communication, relationship building, problem solving, and stress management.
These are just some of the skills that Emerson and Grover are trying to support students in developing, so that they can regulate and then focus on achieving academic success. “We are passionate about working with these adolescents, and it is a privilege to see students work through personal struggles,” said Emerson. “What some of these kids overcome, and what they achieve is remarkable. We love what we do.”
During a follow-up discussion with Gorham Times staff, Jandreau expressed his appreciation for the work of GHS staff, while stressing the need for additional staffing and support for students. He encouraged families to continue dialogue with their teens and to work together with prevention efforts that help youth with healthy decision-making and resiliency skills. Jandreau noted the excellent grassroots discussions being led by Gorham Partnership for Thoughtful Technology as an example. The Facebook group of and for Gorham parents and caregivers has shared resources and led a book discussion on “The Anxious Generation,” with a focus on developing community wide solutions to improve youth mental health.