‘It’s personal to me’: Bill requiring mental health awareness training for coaches passes in state House | Politics

A bill requiring mental health awareness training for school athletics staff is headed to the Pennsylvania Senate after passing in the state House on Wednesday.

The bill, first introduced in 2023 and reintroduced in the current legislative session, also would require schools to issue biannual notification to athletics staff, extracurricular advisers, students and parents or guardians explaining the mental health resources available to students.

Of the 107 House votes in favor of the bill Wednesday, only five were cast by Republicans, including state Rep. Brett Miller, whose 41st District includes Hempfield School District. Dissenting votes totaled 94, all Republicans.

Mekkai Williams — a Hempfield alum, a Millersville University political science student and a recently elected Hempfield school board member — helped state Rep. Mary Jo Daley, a Montgomery County Democrat, author the legislation while serving as her intern in 2023.

During his junior year at Hempfield High School, Williams suffered a knee injury during football practice that resulted in two knee surgeries over two years. Going through “intense, exhausting” rehabilitation while sitting on the sidelines caused Williams more than physical pain; he felt isolation and a loss of identity.

“It’s personal to me because of my own struggles, because of the stories that I’ve heard throughout the state,” Williams said. “This is an issue affecting Lancaster County. … You have students who are quite literally calling out and asking for help, and they don’t know where to turn.”

Across the nation, students increasingly struggle with their mental health, and suicide is a growing problem.

Last year 85 people in Lancaster County died by suicide, which is the largest number of annual suicides the county has seen since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started tracking county-level data in 1968.

Lancaster County supporters of the bill include Todd and Nia Forrey, relatives of Kassidy Wilkie, a 14-year-old Donegal High School student athlete who died by suicide last March.

Wilkie’s uncle, Grant Wilkie, who spoke in support of the bill last year just months after her death, said then if there were certain signs that coaches had been aware of to look for, then maybe she would have been referred for mental health services.

“No one really knew she was struggling with anything other than the normal teenage stuff,” he said last year.

Bipartisan support

The Democrat-controlled House previously passed the bill along party lines, 102-100, in June 2024, but the legislation never made it out of the Senate Education Committee.

Williams said he has since invested a lot of energy into growing Republican support for the bill, and he’s optimistic that support will help push it through the Senate.

“I worked really hard whipping those five votes,” Williams said, noting the hesitation among Republican voters stems from “a lack of understanding of what the bill does and doesn’t do.”

For example, he said, the primary concern he has heard is that the bill would put too much of a burden on coaches. But, he said, many coaches are already required to receive this kind of training as teachers.

“This bill would close the loophole for those coaches who are not teachers to take this training,” Williams said. “For those coaches who are teachers, this training would count toward their professional development. … Coaches are already quite literally asking for this.”

A 2022 national study by Learning in Fitness and Education found that only 18% of the more than 10,000 youth coaches surveyed said they feel highly confident in their ability to link athletes to mental health resources, and 67% said they want more training on the issue.

Lancaster County Democratic state Reps. Nikki Rivera and Izzy Smith-Wade-El voted in favor of the bill, but apart from Miller, all of the county’s Republican representatives — Mindy Fee, Keith Greiner, Steven Mentzer, Tom Jones, David Zimmerman and Bryan Cutler — voted against it.

Miller did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

In a written statement Friday, Cutler said the bill would place another unfunded mandate on coaches who in many cases volunteer their time.

“Our budgets which I have supported significantly increased funding for mental health, and the previous bills have updated the health records and care,” Cutler said. “These discussions are always appropriate, but more mandates should not replace the roles of parents and families in their children’s health and well-being.”

Following its approval in the house, the bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee.

Rep. Daley said in a statement Friday that she looks forward to engaging with Senate members but had no specific insights on the bill’s future.

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