2022年11月30日 VOA慢速英语： 学校努力满足学生的心理健康需求

 

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.
美国各地的学校系统一直在努力寻找工作人员来满足学生的心理健康需求。自 COVID-19 大流行开始以来，学生的心理健康问题已经恶化。
 
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 发现，在该国 18 个最大的学区中，有 12 个学区在今年秋天开始学年时，辅导员或心理学家的人数比以前少在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.
专家说，因此，许多学校心理健康专业人员必须处理大量超出建议限制的病例。许多学生不得不等待急需的帮助。
 
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.
社会工作者已经承担了一些额外的支持需求。国家数据显示，自大流行病爆发前以来，社会工作者的人数增长了近 50%。但是社会工作者接受的培训与其他精神卫生专业人员不同，并且也有其他责任。
 
School districts included in the research serve a combined 3 million students. They started the year with nearly 1,000 unfilled mental health positions.
研究中包括的学区共为 300 万学生提供服务。今年年初，他们有近 1,000 个心理健康职位空缺。
 
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 数据基于通过公开记录请求收到的学校人员配置数据。美国最大的 31 个区受到质疑，但有些区没有测量或提供数据。
 
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.
美国各地的学校系统从联邦政府那里获得资金，以应对 COVID-19 大流行的影响。一些地区用这笔钱来增加精神卫生工作者。但其他人没有。他们担心一旦援助资金用完就付钱给他们。各地区花费近 1900 亿美元的恢复资金的时间有限。
 
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.
许多想要雇用更多精神卫生工作者的学校根本找不到他们。学校心理学家的职位尤其难以填补。通过他们的培训，学校心理学家提供一对一的咨询，并帮助有自杀风险的学生。
 
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.
在马里兰州，蒙哥马利县公立学校的心理学家严重短缺。克里斯蒂娜·康诺利-切斯特 (Christina Connolly-Chester) 说，该学区一直将心理学部门的重点放在危机预防和提供特殊教育评估等法律要求的服务上。她是该地区的心理服务主任。这意味着他们无法跟上其他不太紧急的咨询服务。
 
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.
该地区试图雇用工人来帮助患有焦虑症或抑郁症或在冲突中挣扎的学生。但一名地区官员本月表示，仍有 30 个心理学家职位空缺。
 
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，一些学校就很难找到心理学家。新心理学家进入该领域的速度还不够快。
 
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 个大区中有一半的本学年预算辅导员或心理学家职位少于 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.
“尽管人们谈论的都是心理健康，但他们实际花在这上面的钱并没有那么多，”Phyllis Jordan 说。她在华盛顿特区乔治敦大学的 FutureEd 工作。该小组衡量学校支出。该组织发现，学区仅计划将最大一轮联邦 COVID 援助的约 2% 用于心理健康招聘。
 
There has been an increase, however, in social workers.
然而，社会工作者的人数有所增加。
 
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 分析发现，与大流行前相比，今年秋天学校社会工作者的人数增加了 48%。学校辅导员的人数增加了 12%，而学校心理学家的人数仅增加了 4%。
 
In Houston, Texas, hiring increases meant nearly every school started this fall with a counselor or social worker.
在得克萨斯州休斯敦，招聘人数增加意味着几乎每所学校都在今年秋天开始配备辅导员或社会工作者。
 
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.
新聘请的社工 Natalie Rincon 能够与处于危机中的学生一对一会面，并教其他学生缓解焦虑的方法。
 
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.
但社工仍无法满足所有需求在 Rincon 的学校。她经常不得不帮助有紧急问题的学生，而留给其他人的时间却更少。
 
"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."
“我希望能够与幼儿园的孩子见面，只是谈谈他们的感受， “林肯说。 “我认为这些都是漏掉的东西。”