Chill Rooms Spotlight School Mental Health Crises and Funding Failures

In an age when the mental well-being of America’s youth is under siege, the emergence of "Chill Rooms" across Pennsylvania schools offers a critical—yet insufficient—response to a deeply flawed system that leaves too many children without trusted help. Savannah Kerns, an 11-year-old sixth grader battling social anxiety and bullying, finds refuge in such a room at Pleasant Hills Middle School. But how many other students, across the nation, are left without these lifelines? When Schools Fail to Protect Their Most Vulnerable, Who Will? The expansion of the Chill Project—from just two rooms in 2019 to over fifty today throughout several...