The mental health of children and youth has been a focus of the news, community leaders, and the nation for the past couple of years. Schools have seen increased concerns and requests for help from students and their families. One in six U.S. children has had a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder.
In Genesee County, this need has been recognized by both Genesee Health System (GHS) and area schools. GHS has been working closely with schools to identify needs and offer services to the schools to support youth, the family, and the school. Here are the current GHS School-Based Mental Health services:
U-CARE Program
- Crisis response team to school location in 60 minutes or less
- GHS staff team consisting of RNs, licensed master level or higher mental health professionals
- Crisis intervention, crisis screenings, referral, and coordination of care
- Follow-up therapy for youth and families being served and connection with ongoing, long-term services as needed
Embedded Community Health Worker (CHW)
- CHW works directly in the school building to act as a link to coordinate services for students and families
- Focused on helping with social determinants of health (housing, food, medical care, etc.)
Skill Groups
- Provision of skill-building groups to cope with stress, grief & loss, trauma, emotional regulation
- Individual skill-building sessions as needed
Vaping Groups
We utilize the American Lung Association INDEPTH curriculum
- Provide skill acquisition groups to students who may be struggling with tobacco/nicotine dependence, vaping, etc.
- Small groups of 6-10 students
- 4-6 week curriculum
- Middle school and high school only
Hope Squad
- A peer-to-peer suicide prevention training program for local school districts.
- Hope Squad members are nominated by their classmates as trustworthy peers and trained by advisors.
- The program reduces youth suicide through education, training, and peer intervention.
For questions, please send an email to: GHSK12@genhs.org.