Student support services in education are an integral component for facilitating the scholastic success of all children and adolescent. Two key members of a school’s student support services team are school counsellors and school nurses. These professionals tend to be the educators most likely to address the mental and physical issues of students in school settings. These issues may impede the learning, development, and adjustment processes of students, both in school settings as well as their communities. More importantly, these professionals have specific training for dealing with mental and physical health issues, as well as the ability to treat these issues while children are in school. Unlike teachers and administrators, who are charged with other responsibilities in school settings, school counsellors and school nurses also typically have access to referral services within the community in case children need mental and physical care beyond the scope or responsibility of the school.

Aside from dealing with health care issues for children in school settings, school counsellors and school nurses also will potentially be impacted by health disparities. A health disparity is the disproportionate rate of certain illnesses in one ethnic, gender, or racial group compared to members of the dominant or power group. For example, cardiovascular disease is more prevalent in Latinas/os than white Americans. Also, alcohol abuse is disproportionately present in Native Americans versus white Americans. Another example is that anxiety and suicidal ideation is more common in Asians than white Americans. Health disparities also can mean limited access to health care and health insurance.

Unfortunately for children from certain ethnic and racial groups in the United States, health disparities can serve as a major barrier to their scholastic success. For this reason, student support service providers, such as school counsellors and school nurses, play an important role in the experiences of these children. More importantly, due to the limited access to health care and health insurance that is synonymous with health disparities, school counsellors and school nurses are often the only opportunity that these children have for treatment of chronic illnesses. Newly arrived immigrant children and adolescents from Latin America to the EEUU are especially prone to mental and physical health disparities for a variety of reasons, including limited economic resources, possible undocumented residency status, fear of being discriminated against, and a basic misunderstanding and mistrust of social services and educational services in the EEUU. Unfortunately for these newly arrived immigrants, little research has been conducted on their experiences as it relates to health disparities in school settings.

Based on this background, this presentation will include information on a survey administered to school counsellors and school nurses working in EEUU schools with recently arrived Latin American immigrant students. Participants were asked to describe the types of health disparities they had observed in this population. Participants also were asked to share how they intervened on behalf of these students, with a particular focus on mental and physical health treatments. Individuals wanting to learn more about the impact of health disparities, the realities of immigrant school children on school success and the role of student support services should attend.