Students, survivors and advocates press Health Care committee to back school mental‑health bills and voluntary firearm storage
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Summary
Students, school counselors and suicide‑loss survivors urged the House Committee on Health Care to support three bills—H.817 and H.818 on school mental‑health supports and screening, and H.20 creating a voluntary firearms storage program—during a Feb. 11 hearing in Montpelier. Witnesses described local losses, school programs and the need for funding and training.
Kelsey Stavseth, executive director of Northeast Kingdom Human Services and co‑president of Vermont Care Partners, and representatives from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention told the House Committee on Health Care on Feb. 11 that schools are a critical access point for suicide prevention and urged support for legislation aimed at expanding training and screening.
"We save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide," said Sally Hespe, area director for AFSP Vermont, listing three bills the chapter is asking lawmakers to champion: House Bill 817 (mental‑health and substance‑use prevention in schools), House Bill 818 (school mental‑health screening) and House Bill 20 (a voluntary firearms storage program).
Why it matters: Witnesses described schools as hubs for safety and early intervention in rural communities with limited behavioral‑health capacity. Educators and students said local programs and training can identify suicidal ideation earlier and connect young people to care, but they also warned that funding uncertainty, staff shortages and broader social needs (housing, food, transportation) leave many districts underresourced.
Raven Pfaff, a paraeducator and AFSP treasurer who represents a small Orleans Central Supervisory Union school, said her district recently lost two students and formed a suicide‑prevention coalition. "We have lost 2 of our high school students to suicide," Pfaff said, urging committee members to support H.817 and H.818 to provide consistent training and protocols across small, rural schools.
School social worker Jamie Spector cited the Youth Risk Behavior Survey data used by her U‑32 High School: "Roughly a quarter of our high school students reported having poor mental health," she said, adding that about 7 percent reported making a plan about how they would attempt suicide the previous year. Spector described a program at U‑32 that embeds teen Mental Health First Aid in 10th‑grade health class and trains students to support peers.
Supporters emphasized training and screening rather than punitive measures. "It's not about restricting kids' access to learning supports," Spector said; instead, she described the $5,000 per‑school cost to start a teen Mental Health First Aid program and urged state assistance to scale successful school models.
Firearms and storage: Several witnesses framed voluntary firearm storage as a pragmatic, non‑restrictive safety measure. Terry Labley, a loss and attempt survivor from St. Johnsbury and AFSP volunteer, said the proposal does not ban guns but "allows people to drop their firearms off if someone in their home is struggling or they're struggling themselves," and argued that putting time and space between a crisis and access to means can save lives. Labley cited a statistic presented during testimony that about 63 percent of Vermont suicide deaths involve firearms.
What the committee did: The hearing collected testimony and questions; no votes were taken. The committee recessed until 3:00 p.m. with the bills noted in witness packets and AFSP materials for members to review.
Next steps: Committee staff will retain the submitted materials and witness packets. Several members suggested sharing the testimony with the House Education Committee because H.817 and H.818 are filed in education, and committee leadership said they would coordinate with that committee’s chair to explore next steps.
