e-Edition
Sign up for email newsletters
to submit an obituary
Please email obits@times-standard.com or call 530-896-7718. Please include your name, mailing address, and phone number along with the copy and photo.
Sign up for email newsletters
e-Edition
Trending:
By Peter Stoll
Every May, communities across the nation pause to recognize Mental Health Awareness Month — a time to break down stigma, share resources, and renew our commitment to emotional well-being. All of us have physical health, and in that same regard, we all have mental health. Both require intention and awareness to maintain strength and function. While seeking treatment for physical health is routine, mental health support is still sometimes cast in shadow. What could be a pivotal moment in a child’s development could be an opportunity lost if not detected early and addressed.
Here in Humboldt County, it is essential that we provide pathways to promote children’s healthy development. One in five children will experience a mental health condition before adulthood — and many will never access the support they need. In our schools, clinics, and communities, dedicated people are working every day to change that.
Humboldt County’s children grow up in one of the most beautiful places in California — and also one of the most challenging. Geographic isolation, limited access to specialists, high rates of poverty, and elevated adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) create a landscape where mental health needs are significant. ACEs — including abuse, neglect, household instability, and witnessing violence — have lasting effects on brain development and lifelong health. Children who carry these experiences benefit enormously from consistent, compassionate support at school and in the community.
Schools are often the first — and sometimes only — place a child in crisis is seen. Across Humboldt County, school districts, the Humboldt County Office of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, community-based organizations, and tribal support services weave a promising net of care. Over the past 20 years, I have witnessed a strengthening of relationships and collaboration, evidenced by multi-agency coordinated crisis responses that represent true cooperation and culturally sustaining practices.
To quote Ben Franklin, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” California is now building the most extensive mental health initiative in its history — a $4+ billion effort that has established an innovative new role called the Certified Wellness Coach, dedicated to building relationships across school and community settings to deliver preventative health and wellness support. Research consistently shows that meaningful relationships are among the most important protective factors for children’s academic and social success.
These preventative roles — Certified Wellness Coaches, school psychologists, counselors, and nurses — are supported by most insurance plans. If your school requests insurance information, it is specifically to leverage reimbursement for these positions at no cost to your family. State legislation ensures that sharing this information will not impact your premiums or add a copay. It is simply a smart way to sustain the important, low-level wellness interventions that keep our children supported before a crisis ever begins.
This May, let’s celebrate what is being built right here at home — and make sure every family knows how to be part of it.
Peter Stoll, Ph.D., is the director of prevention and intervention services for the Humboldt County Office of Education.
Copyright 2026 Times-Standard. All rights reserved. The use of any content on this website for the purpose of training artificial intelligence systems, algorithms, machine learning models, text and data mining, or similar use is strictly prohibited without explicit written consent.
