The Mississippi K-12 Mental Health Task Force will hold its third set of meetings on Wednesday, August 7, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday, August 8, from 8 a.m. to noon in room 216 of the Mississippi State Capitol. All meetings are open to the public. If you cannot attend in person, you can watch the livestream of the meeting on the Senate YouTube channel.
We encourage anyone interested in supporting student mental health, especially students and their families, to attend the task force meetings in person or virtually. We also urge you to share your recommendations with the task force. You can email them to MHTF@peer.ms.gov.
The Mississippi State Legislature passed Senate Bill 2727 during its 2024 regular session. This law establishes the Mississippi K-12 Mental Health Task Force for 2024. The law requires the Task Force to review and make recommendations to the legislature regarding available resources and gaps in resources to address students’ mental health in grades K-12 and through the community college and university systems.
- Collect and analyze publicly available data and statistics related to the current state of student mental health, K-12 through the community college and university level.
- Explore the impact of trauma and mental health issues on student behavior, dropout and graduation rates, academic achievement, employment and related issues.
- Evaluate currently available resources for addressing student mental health, including, but not limited to, partnerships with nonprofits or experts, telehealth opportunities, and inpatient and outpatient resources.
- Review mental health training and professional development provided to K-12 school personnel and school personnel at community colleges and universities for classroom management, identification, referral, intervention and prevention.
- Evaluate successful strategies for addressing challenges in student mental health in Mississippi and nationwide.
- Review the current workforce landscape related to psychologists, nurses, counselors, behavior interventionists and others who work in schools, community colleges and universities, and consider strategies to recruit sufficient personnel if there are workforce strategies.
- Explore the effect of a multi-tiered wellness program conducive to growth, achievement, cultivating resilience, motivation and culturally sensitive personal development.
- Review any other matters related to the above issues or student mental health in Mississippi.
- Dr. Jonathan Baker, UMMC Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist
- Senator Kevin Blackwell, Chairman of Senate Medicaid
- Senator Nicole Boyd, Chairwoman of Senate Universities & Colleges
- Senator Hob Bryan, Chairman of Senate Public Health & Welfare
- Wendy Clemons, Associate Superintendent at the Mississippi Department of Education
- Representative Sam Creekmore, Chairman of House Public Health & Human Services
- John Damon, CEO of Canopy Children’s Solutions
- Dr. Daniel Edney, State Health Officer
- Heather Garrett, Teacher and Science Chair at Brandon Middle School
- Dr. Joy Hogge, Executive Director for Families as Allies
- Dr. Emily Johnson, Clinical Psychologist
- Sarah Jones, Counselor at Jones College
- Melody Madaris, Executive Director at Communicare Mental Health Center
- Representative Missy McGee, Chairwoman of House Medicaid
- Heidi Nelson, USM Director of Student Counseling
- Representative Donnie Scoggin, Chairman of House Universities & Colleges
- Kate McMillin, Director of the Office of Mental Health for the Division of Medicaid
- Lynda Stewart, Director of the Division of Children and Youth Services for the Department of Human Services
- Julie Thornton, Head Nurse of the Pearl Public School District
- Jonathan Tritley, School Psychologist at the Jackson County School District
- John Robert Walker, Student Member of the Mississippi Youth Council
- Karla Weir, Assistant Professor in the Mississippi State University Counselor Education Department
