VOA教育报道2022 美国学校努力满足学生的心理健康需求（在线收听）

School systems across the United States have struggled to find workers to deal with students' mental health needs.

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。

Mental health problems among students have worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

自新冠疫情爆发以来，学生的心理健康问题恶化。

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，在美国18个最大的学区中，有12个学区在今年秋季开学时，辅导员或心理学家的人数少于2019年秋季。

As a result, many school mental health professionals must work with a high number of cases that go beyond recommended limits, experts say.

专家表示，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。

Many students are having to wait for urgently needed help.

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.

社会工作者承担了一些额外的支持需求。

The number of social workers has grown by nearly 50 percent since before the pandemic, national data shows.

美国国家数据显示，自疫情爆发前以来，社会工作者的数量增长了近50%。

But social workers have different training from other mental health professionals and have other responsibilities, too.

但社会工作者接受的培训与其他心理健康专业人员接受的培训不同，且他们还承担着其他责任。

School districts included in the research serve a combined 3 million students.

研究中包括的学区总共为300万名学生提供服务。

They started the year with nearly 1,000 unfilled mental health positions.

今年年初，他们有近1000个心理健康职位空缺。

The Chalkbeat data is based on school staffing data received through open records requests.

Chalkbeat的数据基于通过公开记录请求收到的配备的学校职员数据。

The 31 largest districts in the U.S. were questioned, but some did not measure or provide data.

美国最大的31个区接受了询问，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.

美国各地的学校系统从联邦政府那里获得资金，以应对新冠疫情的影响。

Some districts used the money to add mental health workers. But others did not.

一些学区用这笔钱增加了心理健康工作者。但其他学区没有。

They worried about paying them once the aid money ends.

他们担心一旦援助资金用完，就无法支付他们工资。

Districts have limited time to spend the nearly $190 billion of recovery money.

学区花光近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.

许多想要雇佣更多心理健康工作者的学校根本找不到他们。

School psychologist positions have been especially hard to fill.

学校心理医生的职位尤其难以填补。

With their training, school psychologists provide one-on-one counseling and help students who are at risk of suicide.

学校心理学家接受培训后提供一对一的咨询，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.

在马里兰州，蒙哥马利县公立学校的心理学家严重短缺。

The district has kept the psychology department centered on crisis prevention and providing legally required services like special education assessments, said Christina Connolly-Chester.

克里斯蒂娜·康诺利-切斯特说，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。

She is the district's director of psychological services.

她是该学区的心理服务部门的主任。

That has meant they cannot keep up with other, less urgent counseling services.

这意味着他们无法顾及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.

该学区试图雇佣工作人员来帮助那些患有焦虑、抑郁症或与冲突作斗争的学生。

But there are still 30 open psychologist positions, a district official said this month.

但一位学区官员本月表示，仍有30个心理学家职位空缺。

Even before the pandemic, some schools struggled to find psychologists.

甚至在疫情爆发之前，一些学校就很难找到心理学家。

New psychologists have not been entering the field quickly enough.

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的分析中，本学年18个大学区中有一半学区的编入预算的辅导员或心理学家的数量低于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.

菲利斯·乔丹说：“尽管人们都在谈论心理健康，但他们在这上面的实际花费却不是很高。”

She is with FutureEd at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

她在华盛顿乔治敦大学的FutureEd工作。

The group measures school spending.

该组织估量学校支出。

School districts only planned to spend about 2 percent of the largest round of federal COVID aid on mental health hiring, the group found.

该组织发现，学区只计划将最大一轮联邦疫情援助资金中约2%的资金用于心理健康工作人员的招聘上。

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.

Chalkbeat分析发现，与疫情爆发前相比，今年秋天学校社会工作者的数量增加了48%。

The number of school counselors was up 12 percent and the number of school psychologists increased just 4 percent.

学校辅导员的数量增加了12%，而学校心理学家的数量仅增加了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.

新聘请的社会工作者娜塔莉·林肯能够与处于危机中的学生进行一对一面谈，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.

但社会工作者仍然无法满足林肯所在学校的所有需求。

She often has to the help the students with urgent issues, leaving less time to check in on others.

她经常不得不帮助学生处理紧急问题，因此留给其他事情的时间更少。

"I want to be able to meet with a kindergartner just to talk about how they're feeling," Rincon said.

林肯说：“我希望能够和幼儿园的孩子见面，聊聊他们的感受”。

"Those are the kinds of things that I think slip through the cracks."

“我认为这些是我们忽视的事情。”

I'm Dan Novak.

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