Conversations Regarding Mental Health Will Soon Begin in Classrooms

A new law will make mental health lesson plans mandatory in New Jersey schools.

New Jersey lawmakers are making an effort to take the right steps to ensure that mental health is made apart of education. As we all should know, our mental health and how we deal with stress is very important, so it would make sense that kids as young as 5 years old will begin to be informed.

The recently-passed law, endorsed by Governor Phil Murphy, will incorporate lesson plans centered-around mental health into health classes for grades K-12. PhillyVoice reports that the curated lesson plans will cover a slew of topics and will be curved to be the most applicable to each age group/grade.

The law seeks to begin mental health conversations early in order to make the topic of mental illness less taboo and easier to approach, as well as create better awareness amongst students and teachers overall.

When discussing the law set to go into effect in 2020, Governor Murphy told CBS Philly, “We are striving to do all that we can to improve health and wellness for our students,”.