Hospital School Programs Support Students’ Mental Health and Education

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In-hospital schools are developing groundbreaking means to address the mental health crisis among young people, Rebecca Redelmeier reported in August 2023 for The Hechinger Report. Amidst a surge of in-patient mental health hospitalizations, original programs such as the University of North Carolina’s Hospital School are providing transformative educational support for students, contributing to what Redelmeier described as “a marked difference in their recovery,” both mentally and academically.

As part of the local school district, the UNC Hospital School operates year-round. Teachers “serve as a bridge between the hospital and the student’s regular school,” Redelmeier reported, meeting daily with students and their treatment teams. Principal Marny Ruben explained that a major aim of the program is to provide a sense of normalcy to students whose lives have been upended by a mental health crisis. Regardless of the school district they attend, children admitted to UNC’s hospitals have access to its school program. Offering educational opportunities to hospitalized students has been shown to improve their response to treatment.

Although past research indicates that young people are at high risk of attempting suicide after being discharged from hospitalization for mental health issues, more recent studies show that young people’s feelings about their school community, including whether they feel cared for by teachers and peers, help curb that risk, Redelmeier reported. In-hospital schools foster school connectedness and promote communication between hospital staff and school staff, reducing the likelihood of fragmented care that potentially makes young people more vulnerable to added risks.

Redelmeier’s report focused on UNC’s Hospital School, but other hospitals also provide school programs, including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Stanford’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital School Program, and the New York City Department of Education’s Hospital Schools Program. In the absence of shared standards for the support students receive in hospital schools, one organization, the Hospital Educator and Academic Liaison Association, or HEAL, has begun tracking hospital school programs across the country to ensure consistently high-quality academic programming.

The establishment press, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, have reported frequently on the student mental health crisis, though this reporting has tended to focus on the national shortage of mental healthcare providers and counselors, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, or questions about the efficacy of large-scale interventions. This coverage has failed to address how in-hospital school programs build connectedness and contribute to effective psychiatric care for patients who are students. One exception to this pattern of omission was a substantive report by NPR in June 2021 about a successful partnership between several school districts in Long Island, New York, and Cohen Children’s Medical Center, which provides a “mental health safety net” for children experiencing mental health crises and their families.

Rebecca Redelmeier, “As More Young People Receive Psychiatric Care, Some Hospitals Have Opened Their Own Schools,” The Hechinger Report, August 31, 2023.

Student Researchers: Adehl Bavar, Ruby Bochiccio-Sipos, Osei Dixon, Ryan Hunt, and Rianna Jakson (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Faculty Evaluators: Allison Butler and Jeewon Chon (University of Massachusetts Amherst)