New Law Allows Illinois Students to Take 5 Mental Health Days

By Kelly Youngblood

A new law that allows Illinois students to take up to five mental health days is now in effect and local families are utilizing it.

The education bill, which was passed last fall and went into effect in January, allows students to use up to five mental or behavioral health days without a medical note and students are also able to make up any missed work.

After the second mental health day is requested, students may be referred to a school counselor or appropriate personnel.

Stacey Moore, Chief Communications Officer for Unit 4 Champaign schools, said as of Jan. 20, Unit 4 had 107 absences reported as excused mental health days.

“Unit 4 strongly believes in the importance of wellness in body and mind. To be considered well, we must continuously address physical and mental wellness for our students and staff. Just as if a person is not well physically, we would expect for them to stay home and heal. If a person is not well mentally, we have that same expectation,” Moore said.

Molly Thinnes, a counselor at Two Roads Wellness Clinic, says the pandemic has brought up many challenges for children in school and laws like this one are important for helping them cope with the added stress.

“The past two years have taken a toll on everyone,” Thinnes said. “Children are still learning how the world works and to have (school) continuously stop and start again for the past two years while wearing masks that hinder the ability to accurately read some social cues (is difficult).”

A Center for Disease Control report published in November of 2020 stated beginning in April 2020, the proportion of children’s mental health-related ED visits among all pediatric ED visits increased and remained elevated through October. Compared with 2019, the number of mental health-related visits for children aged 5-11 increased 24 percent and a 31 percent increase for 12-17-year-old adolescents.

Thinnes says allowing mental health days in school is an important opportunity for children in our current culture.

“They are trying just like the rest of us, but they don’t get to choose when to take sick time or personal days,” she said. “This is a great step in the school system toward more recognition of the importance of mental health and emotional development in children.”

Illinois joins several other states that have passed similar mental health laws including Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Virginia.