Lawmakers Push for Mental Health Funding in Minn. Lawmakers Push for Mental Health Funding in Minn. “A lot of the focus has been on the adult mental health system but half the adults begin experiencing symptoms before the age of 14,” Sue Abderholden, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said. She’s working with lawmakers this session in hopes of adding $1.5 million more to the existing $9 million in state funding set aside for School Linked Mental Health Grants. Abderholden says, in Minnesota, half of the students who are served through existing mental health grants have never received treatment before and half of those students have a serious mental illness.

“We have so many little kids coming to us with so many big behaviors and challenges and we’ve actually been getting more kids with a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder,” Mary Waters-Cryer, director of related services in Eden Prairie schools, said.

The School Linked Mental Health Grants have also been nationally recognized in terms of their effectiveness.