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Mental Health

Chicago Public Schools recognizes and values the importance of mental health support and services for the well-being of our students, staff, and school communities.

We commit to promote, provide, and develop a robust continuum of care through the convergence of policy creation, behavioral health services, multi-tiered systems of social and emotional support, restorative practices, and community partnerships to advance an equitable culture of mental health and wellness across the district.

Winter Break Resource

According to the University of Chicago Medicine, about 5% of the U.S. population experiences Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). A 2021 survey from National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) showed that 3 in 5 Americans feel their mental health is negatively impacted by the holidays. As CPS staff and families get ready for the winter holidays, the OSHW Mental Health Team has put together a resource page on SAD, holiday mental health support, and local warming and meal sites.

Resources for Students

If you or someone you know has thoughts of suicide, has experienced trauma, or wants to talk with someone about overwhelming thoughts and feelings, we encourage you to talk with a trusted adult. This may include a parent, guardian, or adult in your school. Your school’s Behavioral Health Team (BHT), which may include a nurse, psychologist, counselor, or social worker, can help you get the support you need.

For anyone struggling with thoughts of suicide, know that you are not alone and there are immediate resources available. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides free and confidential services 24/7. You can access this lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-8255 (English) or 1-888-628-9454 (Spanish).

If you have thoughts of depression, anxiety, loneliness, suicide, or are in a crisis, you can connect to a Crisis Counselor 24/7. To reach the Crisis Hotline, text HOME to 741741 or call the National Youth Crisis Hotline at 1-800-448-3000.

There are other hotlines you can call for targeted support for specific mental health issues. These include:

  • The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Chicago: 1-833-626-4244
  • The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: 1-800-662-4357
  • The National Eating Disorder Association: 1-800-931-2237
  • The Trevor Project (LGBTQ+ Support): 1-866-488-7386
  • The National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233

#PleaseStayPledge Campaign

CPS is thrilled to announce that we’ve partnered with Born This Way Foundation and Find Your Anchor on Please Stay — a new campaign that reminds students of the importance of prioritizing their mental health and support that are available to them. We are encouraging all teachers, school and community leaders, counselors, and other school staff to help students find their anchors over the course of the school year.

Additional Resources for Students

Resources for CPS Staff

If you suspect a student is experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge, refer the student to your school’s clinician (school nurse, counselor, social worker, or psychologist) or Behavioral Health Team (BHT). If you believe a student is in crisis, you must refer the student to a clinician in the building immediately. If a clinician is unavailable, call the CPS Crisis Hotline at 773-553-1792 or the Student Safety Center at 773-553-3335.

Resources for Caregivers

Anytime is a good time to ask a young person how they are feeling. Have regular check-ins with your young person to talk about what they are feeling and experiencing. You can use this resource, Supporting Your Student’s Mental Health, to help guide you. If a young person tells you that they have been feeling hopeless, has thoughts of self harm, an inability to concentrate, or other signs of emotional distress, connect them to a healthcare provider.

To connect a young person to a healthcare provider:

For specific questions or resources, please contact OSHW@cps.edu.

For specific mental health related questions or resources, please contact mentalhealth@cps.edu

Substance Use Resources

To support the CPS community, OSHW has resources available to support you, or a loved one, connect with substance use treatment or information.

The Office of Student Health and Wellness is pleased to promote free substance use education resources for CPS caregivers and students through one of our community partners.  

The University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work is offering two asynchronous virtual trainings/educational workshops during the month of December to provide practical insights into supporting youth safety and well-being around substance use. One session covers harm reduction and the other is about understanding youth substance use. Please refer to the following flyer for access to the training!

Candor Health Education is an education non-profit located in Hinsdale with a 50-year history of serving Chicago area youth with health education. Through their online Substance Abuse Prevention Portal (SAP Portal), parents and caregivers can access interactive games, quizzes, graphic novel style stories that are designed to engage and educate the users on various substance use facts and information.

Schools can also request substance use prevention and education workshops for their parents and caregivers. Reach out to mentalhealth@cps.edu to schedule this opportunity.

For non-crisis substance use support, please contact mentalhealth@cps.edu.

There are other hotlines you can call for targeted support for specific substance use issues. These include:

Supporting Priority Student Groups

Our commitments to equity and meeting all students are reflected within the targeted supports available to high-need student groups.

With LGBTQ+ youth facing mental health challenges at higher rates than their peers, our District employs a comprehensive set of strategies to enhance school climate and make schools safer and more welcoming to LGBTQ students. For more information, please view our LGBTQ+ Supportive Environments page.

CPS is also committed to supporting the mental health of our students in temporary living situations (STLS). CPS schools and networks provide assistance in removing barriers to qualified students, including the provisions of services such as transportation, school uniforms, school supplies, fee waivers, and referrals to community resources. For more information, please review our STLS page, call 773-553-2242, or email STLSInformation@cps.edu.

School Policy

CPS adopted the Comprehensive Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Policy in March 2022. This policy establishes a comprehensive approach to mental health, suicide awareness, and prevention that is applied consistently throughout the district.

Our students' well-being and mental health are our top priority at CPS. That is why, since 2022, every student has been allowed five mental health days for each school year. Mental health days are excused absences. Parents and guardians can enter their student’s mental health days into the Aspen Parent Portal via E-Absence, just like any other excused absence.

CPS adopted the Comprehensive Student Substance Use Prevention and Intervention (K-12) Policy in July 2024. This policy ensures schools are in compliance with Illinois laws, ISBE standards, and best practice strategies for prevention education, student substance use intervention, and school opioid intervention procedures.

Tools to Promote Mental Health

Offering Tools to Promote Mental Health for Students age 18+, Staff, and Parents/Caregivers

September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day—a reminder to all of us that mental health is a critical issue for our CPS community, especially in the wake of the pandemic. We recognize that COVID-19 has created and exacerbated mental health challenges for our students, staff, and families, and we are addressing that reality head-on.

To begin with, CPS is growing the number of counselors and social workers in our schools and implementing a universal Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum that is rooted in trauma-informed practices and a restorative approach to student discipline. We are also investing in mentorship and mental health support from highly qualified providers, and have now adopted a Comprehensive Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Policy. CPS is also moving closer to our goal of establishing Behavioral Health Teams (BHTs) in every school and has partnered with the Born This Way Foundation and Find Your Anchor on Please Stay - a mental health initiative created to address increased rates of depression, suicide, and anxiety disorders among young people.

In addition to these resources, we want to share that CPS is partnering with an organization called Big Health to provide two personalized digital programs that use cognitive and behavioral techniques to address poor sleep, worry, and anxiety.

  • Sleepio is a sleep improvement program that teaches you to establish healthy sleep patterns to get a better night’s sleep and wake up energized.
  • Daylight is an app that helps you gain control over your worry and anxiety by addressing the underlying causes of worry and teaching techniques that can be practiced in as little as a few minutes a day.

Sleepio and Daylight are available at no cost to the parents and caregivers of CPS students. Users must be 18+. Try Sleepio today at www.sleepio.com/cpsfamily, and Daylight at www.trydaylight.com/cpsfamily, access code CPS.

CPS employees can access these programs at www.sleepio.com/cpsemployees and www.trydaylight.com/cpsemployees.

For more information on the mental health services being provided by CPS, please visit cps.edu/MentalHealth.