Schools should prioritize nutrition, physical fitness for mental health, say RFK, McMahon 

Mental health programs in K-12 education often create more harm than healing, Trump officials caution.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued the stark warning in a Washington Post op-ed.

“While we should not discount the necessary contributions of mental health professionals, we also can’t forget the harms therapy can do when aggrandized into a ‘system’ that processes normal schoolchildren like patients in a sanatorium,” Kennedy and McMahon write.

The two Cabinet secretaries published the piece after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill this summer requiring every public school in the state to perform annual mental health screenings on students.

“Too often, we only recognize a student’s distress when it becomes a crisis. With universal screening, we shift from reaction to prevention,” state Superintendent of Education Dr. Tony Sanders said in a press release. “The earlier we identify a need, the better support we can provide to that student to help them thrive – in school and in life.”

But Kennedy and McMahon argue mental health screenings often introduce the concept before the struggle ever exists.

“Overzealous use of therapy can cause the crises it claims to cure,” they write.

Mental health struggles often emerge from prior unhealthy life circumstances, according to Kennedy and McMahon. Physical health, diet and family structure impact an individual’s mental health – for good and ill, Kennedy and McMahon argue, suggesting prioritizing these health areas benefits mental health.

“Instead of therapy and diagnosis, our schools must return to the natural sources of mental well-being: strong families, nutrition and fitness, and hope for the future,” they write.

Kennedy and McMahon cite various health crises in American children, from screen addiction to obesity to physical weakness. Social media addictions, for instance, actually imitate drug stimulation and increase the likelihood of depression.

Meanwhile, processed foods lack key nutrients and introduce harmful, addictive ingredients that “affect the brain and nervous system,” often inducing “antisocial and violent behaviors,” they write.

“Though mental health professionals carry out valuable healing work for minds in crisis, many seem to have forgotten the ancient truth that basic lifestyle choices and physical health should come first,” Kennedy and McMahon note.

They cite Abigail Shrier, author of Bad Therapy, in which she argues the push for excessive therapy and diagnoses creates “the very mental health crises it claims to cure.”

Mental health assessments often hyper fixate on the individual’s “transitory emotions,” Kennedy and McMahon maintain. Through maturation, children learn how to control their “unpredictable behaviors” and acknowledge the “ups and downs” of life, which don’t necessarily indicate a mental health crisis, they argue.

Instead of “validating every impulse,” prescribing pharmaceuticals or suggesting familial “distance,” schools should encourage key areas of overall health such as nutrition and physical exercise, Kennedy and McMahon suggest.

“Rather than subjecting students to yearly screenings and empowering a ‘longhouse’ of therapists, schools should engage and rely on parents to raise their children with nutritious family meals and family interaction, outdoor play and role-modeling,” they write.

They recommend reforms such as no-phone policies, physical education fitness tests and nutritious school lunches, in step with President Donald Trump’s Make America Healthy Again initiative.

Indeed, at least 31 states have limited cellphone use during school hours, according to USA Today.

“If we are successful in crafting sound bodies for our students through promoting a good diet, expanding physical activity and limiting exposure to harmful environments, we will ensure sound minds without opening the floodgates to mass therapy,” they conclude.