BUFFALO N.Y. (WKBW) — Governor Kathy Hochul in the Queen City on Monday commits to address mental health concerns in the Western New York community. In her most recent budget, more than $30 million dollars is being spent on service expansions for school-aged kids mental health.
"We need to just embed this into our education system," Hochul said. "Something bad happening at home they have someone to talk to something bad happening at home there's someone to talk to. We catch them before they fall too hard because if they fall too hard we'll be spending a lifetime getting them back up."
Karl Shallowhorn is the Director of Programs for Mental Health Advocates WNY.
"In school resources are so important because that's where students spend a lot of their time if not majority of their time," he shared.
Times are ever changing, he stated, and a certain level of understanding is necessary to hear children out.
"People need to understand that what our youth are going through is something they didn't go through," Shallowhorn said.
Clinical Director for child services at Horizon Services, Suzan Zannoni, shared that she is pleased this is finally happening.
"Its something i feel has been needed for a really long time," she said.
She agrees with Shallowhorn that times are different and social media plays a large part in that.
"Being bullied is no longer when you're just at school," she stated. "Social media plays such a roll now - you can't get away from it."
Shallowhorn said at the end of the day it's essential for schools to have more resources but it's not all on the schools.
"It's a community based effort. They say it takes a village right," he asked. "It takes a village truly to give these children what they need to go into the future."
