SAN DIEGO — California’s second-largest school district and the San Diego YMCA are expanding resources to support youth mental health.
The two organizations recently received funding through the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, a statewide initiative to invest in young people’s mental health.
State officials awarded $67 million to 99 organizations in 30 counties to expand mental health and wellness services for children, youth and young adults across the state. The money comes from the California Department of Health Care Services in partnership with the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission.
“By investing in these programs, we can make a real difference in the lives of children and young people in California," DHCS Director Michelle Baass said in a statement.
SDUSD to open on-campus wellness centers for 2024-25 school year
San Diego Unified will establish five new family wellness centers using a $720,000 state grant awarded in early March. Back in January, the school district received $750,000 from the same funding source to open wellness centers at six high schools and two middle schools, according to Information Services Specialist Tara McNamara.
The most recent round of funding will support the district’s FamilyWell initiative: “a comprehensive, culturally responsive family wellness program that aids in navigating and accessing behavioral health and other community resources,” McNamara said.
This initiative emphasizes prevention and early intervention to connect children and their families to resources before issues escalate, McNamara said.
The new family wellness centers will offer services including short-term case management, community education, support networks, family outreach and engagement with at-risk students. The goal is to proactively address the mental health and wellbeing of families and students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade.
District officials plan to select five campuses this spring to open family wellness centers in the 2024-25 school year.
Next school year, San Diego Unified will open wellness centers at two high schools and six middle schools. State funding will support a Wellness Center Coordinator at each of these locations, McNamara said.
The coordinators will work to help students access behavioral health services with a focus on prevention and early intervention, McNamara said. They will provide mentoring, share wellness campaigns, and help students develop life skills.
San Diego YMCA aims to fill gap in preventative care
Meanwhile, the funding will help the YMCA of San Diego County fill a gap in its early-intervention mental health care, said Kristina Halmai-Gillan, LMFT.
The YMCA will use its share of the grant, $750,000, to offer support to caregivers of youth who have experienced complex trauma like abuse or unsupportive environments. Trauma at a young age can translate into difficulty forming relationships with others and can manifest in behavioral challenges, in addition to symptoms like poor self-esteem and heightened fight-or-flight states, said Halmai-Gillan.
The training is meant to equip adults to model behaviors and help children learn needed skills to self-regulate.
Caregivers will also be screened for additional needs, such as food and housing instability, and then connected with related resources. On top of the training and support, Halmai-Gillan hopes the sessions will help caregivers build connections with others going through similar experiences.
“It will help normalize for caregivers, ‘you’re not alone,’” Halmai-Gillan said.
Programs like this are critical as San Diego faces a shortage of mental health professionals, she said.
Part of the reason why her team picked this particular style of early-intervention was because it relies on adults rather than therapists.
“There just isn’t great mental health infrastructure,” Halmai-Gillan said. “There’s also not enough therapists out there to meet the need currently.”
A growing youth mental health crisis
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2021, nearly one-third of students experienced poor mental health, and more than one in five students seriously attempted suicide.
In addition, The World Health Organization in 2021 found one in seven 10-19-year-olds experienced a mental disorder.
According to the state health department, research shows 50% of mental health conditions are evident by age 14, and 75% are evident by age 24. But not nearly that many young people are getting the help they need early on.
In California, 66% of children with depression do not receive treatment, according to the state.
You can read more about California’s Youth Behavioral Health Initiative here.
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