Indianapolis, IN — Indiana students are calling on state lawmakers to address a growing youth mental health crisis exacerbated by a shortage of school counselors. This urgent plea follows alarming statistics from the Indiana Department of Health, which revealed that nearly half of the state’s high school students reported experiencing depression last year, and nearly a quarter seriously considered suicide. In 2022 alone, 143 young Hoosiers aged 10-24 tragically lost their lives to suicide, according to the Indiana Youth Institute.
“Hoosier students are tired of burying their friends,” said Cole Ramsey, a senior at Western Boone Jr./Sr. High School, during a gathering at the Statehouse on Wednesday. “There are very few students across the state who have not lost a friend, family, or community member to suicide, drug overdoses, or other mental health-related issues.”
Ramsey, along with other concerned students, parents, teachers, and lawmakers, convened to spotlight the urgent need for improved mental health resources in Indiana schools. Their message was clear: more needs to be done to prevent further loss.
“Every year I’ve been a student at Western Boone, we have unfortunately lost a student to suicide or drug overdose,” Ramsey added. “As a student, I could not sit by idly and watch as my peers and my classmates die.”
Bella McNally, a junior at Westfield High School, emphasized the importance of ensuring that students realize they are not alone. Meanwhile, Keirsten Nies, a senior at Pioneer High School, shared the personal toll of witnessing friends and family members struggle with the loss of loved ones.
Caden Kerns, a junior at Eastern Howard County High School, recounted the heartbreaking story of a freshman who took his own life last year. “He was a baseball player, he was smart, he had friends, everybody knew who he was, he was a good kid,” Kerns said. “He was being bullied, and he couldn’t take it… it tore apart our everyday lives.”
The students collectively called for an increase in the number of school counselors in Indiana’s public schools. Currently, Indiana has an average of one counselor for every 500 students, far exceeding the recommended ratio of 250 students per counselor set by the Indiana Youth Institute.
“It’s not uncommon for there to be a queue, a waiting list to see your counselors,” Ramsey noted. “Being a student at a small, rural school, we have very few counselors.”
Yavuz Atlamaz, a senior at Fishers High School, echoed this concern, stating, “Within our school, for specific mental health counselors, I believe we only have two for 4,000 students.”
Nies further highlighted the dire need for mental health resources in rural communities, stressing that it is not enough to respond to crises but to prevent them as well.
In response to these concerns, the state has introduced a new mental health grant program aimed at combating loneliness in rural communities with populations under 50,000. The program, overseen by Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, will provide grants ranging from $1,000 to $50,000. While the initiative is not exclusively focused on youth mental health, projects fostering intergenerational initiatives and community-based wellness centers are eligible for funding.
“We’ll have improved health outcomes as a result, and we’ll have better communities when people are engaged and connected,” Lt. Gov. Crouch said.
Communities have until September 12 to apply for the grants. State Sen. J.D. Ford, who hosted the roundtable discussion, expressed his support for the program and optimism about expanding mental health resources for students in the next legislative session.
“We’ve talked about the data. We’ve talked about the statistics. We’ve talked about the need for this. Now we must do something,” State Sen. Ford asserted.
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