I hope you are right. My whole experience in school from elementary right through when I left was that many teachers and staff knew that things were bad for me (and my brothers and sisters) at home, but didn't want to deal with it so ignored it.

The school psychologist spoke to me twice that I remember in my whole school career. The first time was when I was in 6th grade, he asked me some questions about home, I refused to answer, and he sent me back to class. Again in 9th grade after my oldest brother passed away after a car accident. I was in a state of mind where I had stopped speaking except to say yes, no or I don't know, stopped doing homework, took part in nothing. He called me in, asked me if I was ok. I looked at him and thought are you serious? Am I ok? Obviously, I'm totally screwed up right now. But I didn't answer so he sent me back to class. No follow up either time.

I do know that when my daughter was in her senior year (same school, different staff of course) she was struggling very badly with depression, was hospitalized, and when I met with her guidance counselor and the high school principle about her coming back to school, the guidance counselor actually told me that, "We noticed that she'd been struggling for the last couple years but didn't realize that it was that bad." Really? Not one call to ask, hey is everything ok with your daughter? We noticed some things that are concerning us. Nope. Nothing. Imagine my surprise when I spoke to the school social worker a month after she was back in school, only to find out that they never even referred her to him. He had no idea that her hospitalization was related to depression, he thought it was for medical reasons. Despite the guidance office having concerns for over a year, they never referred her to the social worker. Once he was aware, he was a huge help and got her through her senior year. She graduated last year. So, I have my doubts that things are a lot better. At least when it comes to MI issues.