Sarbanes Highlights Untapped Potential of School-Based Health Centers to Address Childhood Trauma [Video]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing today, Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) urged his colleagues to invest additional resources in School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs), which have a unique ability to effectively respond to childhood trauma and improve health outcomes for children and young adults.

"I've been an advocate for a long time of trying to strengthen school-based health centers, and really aspire to where every school has a health suite that's there at every level: elementary, middle, and high school," said Congressman Sarbanes. "And then making sure that among the professionals that are serving those centers are mental-health professionals and counselors."

Congressman Sarbanes continued: "I can't think of a better place to bring those services to address many of the trauma situations that we've discussed today, than into our schools, because you have a captive audience, you have the audience that's the most impacted at a young age from trauma, whether it's something that's been experienced at home, whether it's one of these collective impacts."

See below for the Congressman's full remarks.

In April, Congressman Sarbanes introduced the School-Based Health Centers Reauthorization Act, a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the SBHC program through 2024 and provide SBHCs with the federal support they need to continue delivering valuable, low-cost health care to students across the country.

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