“Mental health has become a crisis in our nation,” said Senator Jon Bramnick (R-21). “This legislation may be helpful when explaining the effects of loss to high school students.”

The New Jersey Assembly is scheduled to vote on Senator Bramnick’s bipartisan legislation on Thursday, December 21. Once approved, the bill would head to Governor Murphy’s desk for signature.

Senator Bramnick worked with Imagine, a Center for Coping with Loss to craft the legislation which would instruct school districts to teach students how to cope with grief and loss.

The bill, S-3300/A-5015, would require:

• Public school districts to teach lessons on grief for students in grades eight through twelve as part of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education.
• The Commissioner of Education to provide age-appropriate resources to public school districts on mechanisms and techniques to use while dealing with symptoms of grief.
• Public school districts to provide in-school support, mental health crisis support, and individual and group therapy for students.