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2 Illinois teens' push for expanded mental health education in schools spurs new bill in General Assembly

Two teenagers are spearheading an initiative to expand mental health education in Illinois schools. Abhinav Anne and Sai Ganbote, both juniors at Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, took their pitch to Illinois State lawmakers, and now House Bill 2960 is making its way through the Illinois General Assembly. The bill aims to amend the school code so that comprehensive mental health instruction is part of health class. "We were inspired by our classmates, our friends, our very family that suffer from mental health illnesses, and we realized that we needed to do something right now," Ganbote said. "There's been an epidemic of mental illnesses spread, especially after COVID-19, and we wanted to bring resources right to our future, our students through the school system." The idea for the bill garnered support from several lawmakers and was filed by co-sponsor Rep. Laura Faver Dias in February. Dias helped write the legislation and get it on the House floor. Currently, it would amend the school code so that all public schools with health education would be required to include comprehensive mental health. The bill would also guarantee that students would be protected from having to share any information about their mental health. Ganbote says her own experience of attending a challenging school inspired this initiative. "Going to a math and science academy, we struggle a lot with anxiety and academic pressure, along with this stigma of being perfect to apply for colleges. It's become an everyday thing to strive to be perfect, and we kind of lose ourselves and our own mental health," Ganbote said. Anne and Ganbote say they would like mental health lessons to include stress-coping mechanisms and education on anxiety disorders. "I think that at the basis of all of our initiatives was creating an equitable approach that focuses on a lot of different groups, especially LGBTQ, Asian Americans, and individuals across the spectrum," said Anne. HB 2960 is currently being debated in the Illinois House of Representatives. Dias says she hopes to have it in the Senate by the end of April. Ganbote and Anne are encouraging people to submit witness slips to express their stance on HB 2960.