WYRA Framework and full legislative draft available upon request.

 

 

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The current education system assigns students teachers for academics, coaches for sports, and nurses for physical health — but no one is officially responsible for monitoring their emotional well-being.

 

The Welles Youth Resilience Act introduces a simple correction:

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Every K–12 student is assigned a designated Emotional Health Advisor licensed, or trained under supervision who conducts brief, routine check-ins and serves as a consistent point of contact.​

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Not crisis response.

Not disciplinary intervention.

Just structured, preventative oversight.

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Why it’s necessary:

• Most students never seek help on their own, even when they need it.

• Current counselor ratios (1:400+) make meaningful support impossible.

• Early intervention reduces later costs in policing, healthcare, and welfare.

• Consistency over time builds trust and performance — academically and behaviorally.

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This model already works — in private schools, elite athletic programs, and corporate environments.

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We aren’t reinventing anything. We’re just ending the double standard and giving every student the baseline support already available to the privileged.

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This isn’t about politics. It’s about infrastructure.

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Don’t wait until crisis. Build prevention into the system. Add your name by filling out the petition form if you agree. 

 

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If We Can Assign Advisors to College Students, Why Not to Children?

By Sarah R. Welles

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The current education system assigns academic advisors to college students, coaches to athletes, and nurses for physical checkups. Yet when a five-year-old walks into kindergarten, no one is officially responsible for monitoring their emotional well-being.

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Their reading level will be tracked.

Their attendance will be recorded.

Their test scores will be measured.

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But their pain? Their confusion? Their loneliness? That is left to chance.

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We invest billions in prisons, rehab centers, emergency mental health units, and violence prevention — all designed for broken adults. Yet almost nothing is structurally designed to prevent children from becoming those struggling adults in the first place.

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The Proposal

From Kindergarten through 12th grade, every student is assigned a designated emotional health advisor licensed or trained whose role is preventative, not punitive.

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• Weekly check-ins (brief and structured, like academic advising or physical screenings)

• Additional sessions as needed, scheduled by teachers, parents, or the student themselves

• Consistent relationship over time, not rotating staff or one-off crisis counseling

This is not “therapy for troubled kids.” This is systemized emotional oversight — built into schooling the same way grades and attendance are.

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Why This Is Common Sense, Not Idealism

• Most mental health issues begin before age 14, but go unaddressed for years.

• Most students will not ask for help — even when they need it.

• Teachers are not therapists, and parents cannot be everywhere.

• Elite private schools and youth athletic programs already use this model. We’re simply extending that standard to every child, not just the privileged.

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Objections & Answers

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“Not all kids need therapy.”

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We don’t wait until a child is starving before we feed them. Preventative care is normal everywhere else — health, academics, nutrition. Emotional health should not be different.

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“It’s too expensive.”

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Untreated childhood trauma already costs far more — through incarceration, hospitalization, addiction treatment, and social services. Prevention is cheaper than crisis response.

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“Parents won’t want strangers involved.”

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Advisors operate in collaboration, not competition, with families. Their function is support — not surveillance.

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“What about ideology or bias?”

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Licensed professionals operate under strict ethical standards. Clear guidelines can ensure neutrality and protect parental values.

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The Outcome

Weekly emotional check-ins would:

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• Reduce violence, addiction, self-harm, and behavioral crisis

• Improve attendance, academic performance, and graduation rates

• Normalize emotional literacy instead of leaving kids to guess their way through pain

• Build adults who can regulate, communicate, and lead instead of repeating generational damage

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A child cannot focus on math while silently drowning. Emotional stability is not a luxury. It is infrastructure.

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Start Small. Build Big.

This is not unrealistic. It’s overdue.

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• Begin with pilot programs in school districts.

• Expand statewide.

• Normalize nationally.

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Physical education, free lunch programs, anti-bullying policies — all of them began as “radical ideas” until they became obvious.

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If we want safer schools, stronger families, and healthier adults, we must stop waiting for people to break before helping them. Prevention should not come after the fall. It should exist before the first crack.

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If you agree every child deserves someone assigned to care — add your name.​ 

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Sarah R. Welles 

Founder & Lead Advocate, Welles Youth Resilience Act

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