So what are considered effective and appropriate transition services that schools should offer to students with mental illnesses and other disabilities? Schools should:

• ascertain a student’s career aspirations and goals and work with the student and family to plan around those;
• determine a student’s desire or appropriateness for pursuing higher education;
• link students’ long-term transition goals (meaningful employment, higher education, or living independently) to the development of the student’s annual IEP goals, objectives and educational activities;
• assist and guide students in completing college applications and other documents related to higher education;
• help students identify campus based services and supports;
• support students in developing independent living skills – like financial planning and management, cooking, cleaning, preparing a resume, socializing and more;
• provide students with mental illnesses with work experience, career and academic counseling, job coaching and mentoring to prepare them for gainful employment and higher education;
• aid students in finding housing and appropriate residential placement services;
• work with state and local mental health treatment and service providers;
• collaborate with other state and local service agencies – including vocational rehabilitation (for services and job training related to finding gainful employment), the Social Security Administration and others; and
• provide students and families with appropriate information about community resources and educational opportunities and should work in close partnership with families on transition planning to help ensure the future success of young people with mental illnesses.

It is critical for schools to recognize the need to provide effective transition supports and services to help students with mental illnesses achieve their goals of either continuing in higher education or securing meaningful employment.

Unfortunately, many schools in our nation fail to provide appropriate or effective transition services. The lack of effective transition planning contribute to the following:

• Students with disabilities, including mental illnesses, attend colleges and universities at rates lower than their peers without disabilities;
• Unemployment rates for working-age adults with disabilities, including mental illnesses, have hovered at the 70% level for at least the past 12 years;
• Working adults with disabilities, including those with mental illnesses, earn markedly less income than their peers without disabilities;
• Only 34% of adults with disabilities, including those with mental illnesses, between the ages of 21 and 64, report being employed;
• Students with disabilities are less likely than students without disabilities to complete high school courses that prepare them to succeed in college; and
• Students with disabilities are less likely than their peers to earn a college degree.

(Source: President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education, A New Era: Revitalizing Special Education for Children and Their Families, 2002.)