2022年11月30日 VOA慢速英語： 學校努力滿足學生的心理健康需求

 

School systems across the United States have struggled to find workers to deal with students' mental health needs. Mental health problems among students have worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
美國各地的學校系統(tǒng)一直在努力尋找工作人員來滿足學生的心理健康需求。自 COVID-19 大流行開始以來，學生的心理健康問題已經(jīng)惡化。
 
Chalkbeat found that among 18 of the country's largest school districts, 12 started the school year this autumn with fewer counselors or psychologists than they had in the fall of 2019.
Chalkbeat 發(fā)現(xiàn)，在該國 18 個最大的學區(qū)中，有 12 個學區(qū)在今年秋天開始學年時，輔導員或心理學家的人數(shù)比以前少在2019年的秋天。
 
As a result, many school mental health professionals must work with a high number of cases that go beyond recommended limits, experts say. Many students are having to wait for urgently needed help.
專家說，因此，許多學校心理健康專業(yè)人員必須處理大量超出建議限制的病例。許多學生不得不等待急需的幫助。
 
Some of the extra need for support has been taken by social workers. The number of social workers has grown by nearly 50 percent since before the pandemic, national data shows. But social workers have different training from other mental health professionals and have other responsibilities, too.
社會工作者已經(jīng)承擔了一些額外的支持需求。國家數(shù)據(jù)顯示，自大流行病爆發(fā)前以來，社會工作者的人數(shù)增長了近 50%。但是社會工作者接受的培訓與其他精神衛(wèi)生專業(yè)人員不同，并且也有其他責任。
 
School districts included in the research serve a combined 3 million students. They started the year with nearly 1,000 unfilled mental health positions.
研究中包括的學區(qū)共為 300 萬學生提供服務。今年年初，他們有近 1,000 個心理健康職位空缺。
 
The Chalkbeat data is based on school staffing data received through open records requests. The 31 largest districts in the U.S. were questioned, but some did not measure or provide data.
Chalkbeat 數(shù)據(jù)基于通過公開記錄請求收到的學校人員配置數(shù)據(jù)。美國最大的 31 個區(qū)受到質(zhì)疑，但有些區(qū)沒有測量或提供數(shù)據(jù)。
 
School systems around the U.S. received money from the federal government to deal with effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some districts used the money to add mental health workers. But others did not. They worried about paying them once the aid money ends. Districts have limited time to spend the nearly $190 billion of recovery money.
美國各地的學校系統(tǒng)從聯(lián)邦政府那里獲得資金，以應對 COVID-19 大流行的影響。一些地區(qū)用這筆錢來增加精神衛(wèi)生工作者。但其他人沒有。他們擔心一旦援助資金用完就付錢給他們。各地區(qū)花費近 1900 億美元的恢復資金的時間有限。
 
Many schools that have wanted to hire more mental health workers simply cannot find them. School psychologist positions have been especially hard to fill. With their training, school psychologists provide one-on-one counseling and help students who are at risk of suicide.
許多想要雇用更多精神衛(wèi)生工作者的學校根本找不到他們。學校心理學家的職位尤其難以填補。通過他們的培訓，學校心理學家提供一對一的咨詢，并幫助有自殺風險的學生。
 
In Maryland, there is a large shortage of psychologists at Montgomery County Public Schools. The district has kept the psychology department centered on crisis prevention and providing legally required services like special education assessments, said Christina Connolly-Chester. She is the district's director of psychological services. That has meant they cannot keep up with other, less urgent counseling services.
在馬里蘭州，蒙哥馬利縣公立學校的心理學家嚴重短缺?？死锼沟倌?middot;康諾利-切斯特 (Christina Connolly-Chester) 說，該學區(qū)一直將心理學部門的重點放在危機預防和提供特殊教育評估等法律要求的服務上。她是該地區(qū)的心理服務主任。這意味著他們無法跟上其他不太緊急的咨詢服務。
 
The district sought to hire workers to help with students who have anxiety or depression or struggle with conflict. But there are still 30 open psychologist positions, a district official said this month.
該地區(qū)試圖雇用工人來幫助患有焦慮癥或抑郁癥或在沖突中掙扎的學生。但一名地區(qū)官員本月表示，仍有 30 個心理學家職位空缺。
 
Even before the pandemic, some schools struggled to find psychologists. New psychologists have not been entering the field quickly enough.
甚至在大流行之前，一些學校就很難找到心理學家。新心理學家進入該領(lǐng)域的速度還不夠快。
 
In the Chalkbeat analysis, half of the 18 large districts budgeted for fewer counselor or psychologist positions this school year than they did in the fall of 2019.
在 Chalkbeat 分析中，18 個大區(qū)中有一半的本學年預算輔導員或心理學家職位少于 2019 年秋季。
 
"For all the talk about mental health, the actual money they're spending on it is not that high," said Phyllis Jordan. She is with FutureEd at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. The group measures school spending. School districts only planned to spend about 2 percent of the largest round of federal COVID aid on mental health hiring, the group found.
“盡管人們談論的都是心理健康，但他們實際花在這上面的錢并沒有那么多，”Phyllis Jordan 說。她在華盛頓特區(qū)喬治敦大學的 FutureEd 工作。該小組衡量學校支出。該組織發(fā)現(xiàn)，學區(qū)僅計劃將最大一輪聯(lián)邦 COVID 援助的約 2% 用于心理健康招聘。
 
There has been an increase, however, in social workers.
然而，社會工作者的人數(shù)有所增加。
 
The Chalkbeat analysis found that the number of school social workers was up 48 percent this fall compared with before the pandemic. The number of school counselors was up 12 percent and the number of school psychologists increased just 4 percent.
Chalkbeat 分析發(fā)現(xiàn)，與大流行前相比，今年秋天學校社會工作者的人數(shù)增加了 48%。學校輔導員的人數(shù)增加了 12%，而學校心理學家的人數(shù)僅增加了 4%。
 
In Houston, Texas, hiring increases meant nearly every school started this fall with a counselor or social worker.
在得克薩斯州休斯敦，招聘人數(shù)增加意味著幾乎每所學校都在今年秋天開始配備輔導員或社會工作者。
 
Newly hired social worker Natalie Rincon is able to meet one-on-one with students who are in crisis and teach other students ways to ease anxiety.
新聘請的社工 Natalie Rincon 能夠與處于危機中的學生一對一會面，并教其他學生緩解焦慮的方法。
 
Still, the workers are not able to meet all the need at Rincon's school. She often has to the help the students with urgent issues, leaving less time to check in on others.
但社工仍無法滿足所有需求在 Rincon 的學校。她經(jīng)常不得不幫助有緊急問題的學生，而留給其他人的時間卻更少。
 
"I want to be able to meet with a kindergartner just to talk about how they're feeling," Rincon said. "Those are the kinds of things that I think slip through the cracks."
“我希望能夠與幼兒園的孩子見面，只是談談他們的感受， “林肯說。 “我認為這些都是漏掉的東西。”