Hazel Health’s Post

As the demand for comprehensive mental/behavioral health services grows, it's refreshing to see Cherry Creek step up to holistically address the needs of our youth. Cheers to fostering a safe space where students can learn, grow, and heal. #EducationInnovation #SafeSpacesInEducation #FutureOfLearning 

NY Governor Hochul unveiled a comprehensive plan to combat the escalating #MentalHealth challenges faced by #NewYork youth. 🏫 Expanding School-Based Mental Health Clinics: $20 million in start-up funding towards placing a mental health clinic in every school that desires one. 👥 Governor’s Youth Mental Health Advisory Board: Governor Hochul introduced the Youth Mental Health Advisory Board, encouraging middle and high school students to apply. This initiative stems from the Governor's commitment to amplify the voices of our youth, ensuring their perspectives shape #BehavioralHealth programs and initiatives. 🛡️ Protecting Children Online: Governor Hochul advocates for the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Kids Act (SAFE for Kids Act) to regulate #UnhealthySocialMedia usage. This proposal aims to protect young users from addictive algorithmic feeds without parental consent. Additionally, the New York Child Data Protection Act is set to safeguard the personal data of individuals under 18. 💰 Expanding Access to Mental Health Care for Low-Income New Yorkers: $15 million annually will be allocated in the Executive Budget to increase reimbursement rates for #MentalHealthServices for #children in licensed facilities. This, along with an additional $27 million annually, supports mental health services for #adults, aiming to enhance access for #Medicaid members. 💡 Governor Hochul’s $1 Billion Plan: Youth mental health is at the forefront of Governor Hochul's $1 billion plan to strengthen New York State’s mental healthcare system. This multi-year initiative includes funding for school-based mental health services, wraparound services training, and the expansion of HealthySteps, an evidence-based program catering to children up to the age of 3. 📰 Read the article: https://lnkd.in/e-eKnmbB

NY Governor Hochul unveiled a comprehensive plan to combat the escalating #MentalHealth challenges faced by #NewYork youth. 🏫 Expanding School-Based Mental Health Clinics: $20 million in start-up funding towards placing a mental health clinic in every school that desires one. 👥 Governor’s Youth Mental Health Advisory Board: Governor Hochul introduced the Youth Mental Health Advisory Board, encouraging middle and high school students to apply. This initiative stems from the Governor's commitment to amplify the voices of our youth, ensuring their perspectives shape #BehavioralHealth programs and initiatives. 🛡️ Protecting Children Online: Governor Hochul advocates for the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Kids Act (SAFE for Kids Act) to regulate #UnhealthySocialMedia usage. This proposal aims to protect young users from addictive algorithmic feeds without parental consent. Additionally, the New York Child Data Protection Act is set to safeguard the personal data of individuals under 18. 💰 Expanding Access to Mental Health Care for Low-Income New Yorkers: $15 million annually will be allocated in the Executive Budget to increase reimbursement rates for #MentalHealthServices for #children in licensed facilities. This, along with an additional $27 million annually, supports mental health services for #adults, aiming to enhance access for #Medicaid members. 💡 Governor Hochul’s $1 Billion Plan: Youth mental health is at the forefront of Governor Hochul's $1 billion plan to strengthen New York State’s mental healthcare system. This multi-year initiative includes funding for school-based mental health services, wraparound services training, and the expansion of HealthySteps, an evidence-based program catering to children up to the age of 3. 📰 Read the article: https://lnkd.in/e-eKnmbB

In public health people refer to the social determinants of health when considering the multiple factors that impact overall health. Likewise, in education, children are unable to achieve their full academic and social potential unless their overall state of well-being is taken into account including: 🍅Food 🚐Transportation 🏫Before & afterschool care 🤗Social-emotional health Community schools, a concept that started in 1973 when the Black Panthers founded the first Community School in Oakland, have been revitalized and are spreading across the United States. Community schools partner with local organizations who provide mental health support, food, academic help and after-school programs, among other resources. The selection of the most appropriate services is community-led with students, staff and caregivers providing input. While children benefit immensely, so do their caregivers. It is said that it takes a village to raise a child and community schools create that community of support. This week I'll be answering the question: How do community schools support students and caregivers? I'd love to hear what you think! Please tag an expert or comment. No more silos, just solutions! | Interdisciplinary outcomes uniting healthcare and wellness practices 🌟Follow our publication: https://lnkd.in/geruvmCj #HLWFAlliance #HLWFExpert #HLWF

UnitedHealthcare Community & State of Iowa has announced a $1.5 million investment in school-based telehealth to expand access to mental health care for K-12 students in Iowa. Read More: https://lnkd.in/dScZSAWR This funding will give Hazel Health, a telehealth provider that focuses on school-based solutions, the resources needed to partner with school systems and build the technological infrastructure required to bring quality mental health services to where students spend most of their day — school and home. “Helping students achieve good mental health is essential for their overall wellbeing and influences their ability to succeed in school and life,” said Dr. Brian J. Masterson, MD, MPH senior behavioral health medical director of UnitedHealth Group, parent company of UnitedHealthcare. “Providing virtual mental health services in schools supports access to care for children who need it, while removing obstacles such as transportation and appointments scheduling difficulties.” #mededgemea #unitedhealthcare #SchoolHealth #telehealth #mentalhealth #StudentWellBeing #HealthcareInnovation #mentalhealthawareness #education #youthmentalhealth #HealthcareAccess #telemedicine #communityhealth #Iowa #HealthEquity

We have just submitted our response to the Department for Education's consultation "Improving non-medical help for disabled students in higher education: Government call for evidence". We know that there are improvements that can be made in Disabled Students' Allowances (DSAs), but we believe that DSAs are a funding stream that the Government should be proud of - an unparalleled support ecosystem which draws on a range of qualified professionals to deliver person-centred support. At UMHAN we understand the value of good NMH support, and believe that the fact of a student having Specialist Mental Health Mentoring (SMHM) support in place lowers risk and increases attainment and retention. This is not by providing what DfE understands is “therapeutic” input, or by going outside of the boundaries of the role, but by offering person-centred, holistic mentoring support. Indeed, The Health Foundation notes that person-centred care can not only improve the individual’s experience, quality of care and outcomes but is also an effective, efficient and economic use of resources because it builds on the needs of people rather than the “convenience of providers” (The Health Foundation, 2016). Mental Health Mentoring is now also a recognised form of support funded through Access to Work, where it is described as one of a number of steps that may help people remain in or return to work. We know that well-trained and experienced SMHM help to contain and manage risk in a way that often prevents students having to reach out for additional support from either their HEP or NHS services, both of which are becoming more overstretched. Without this very specialist support being in place, we believe that the workload for HEP staff in Disability and Mental Health/Wellbeing services would increase, and that the likelihood of serious self harm and suicides would also increase. You can read our full reponse here: https://lnkd.in/etBiGsGC #StudentMentalHealth #DSA #DisabledStudents #NMH #Mentoring #PersonCentred

Pressing Issue/ Policy Moment: Preventative and Proactive Mental Health Services ⚕ We think of prevention in healthcare in a very normalized fashion. Doctors direct prevention with healthy habits, routine screenings and physicals. 🔺 Mental Health: School-Based Shift: Integrating Prevention into the School-Based Model- To extend the equity of services access, school-based mental health is a growing infrastructure supported by school district budgets, state departments, and federal funds.  🔺 Access for students/ families is being hubbed through their child’s campus- regardless of and to mitigate financial, transportation, consistency of pediatrician office visits, and otherwise waitlists access to care barriers. ⭕ The policy friction: disconnect currently: 🔻 In moving to school-based mental health systems, preventative screening is often blocked by standard district data privacy agreements, rather requiring parent opt-in consent at a later point/ creating process to gather hundreds or thousands of signatures from individual families once school has already started/ creating access to prevention screening inequity issue 🔻 Parent’s Bill of Rights Policy being enacted by state ex. (TX and NC in comments) - with ultimate goals to give parents the power to “ direct the education and care of their child…To access, review, give permissions to all education and medical records”- move school administrators to being additionally cautious in requesting initial consent for prevention screenings and mental health services instead of standardizing a beginning of year- stakeholder (parents, school administrators, students)  invested process for equitable services, and solutions such as- evidence-based screenings, parent review of questions, parent access to review screening records if prefer, mutually agreed upon pathways to support students with results,  etc. 💡 Will be interesting to see how this is bridged to make sure parents feel empowered in the solution- and prevention can be a more standardized piece of school-based mental health. Would love to know any great examples you are seeing in your home states, districts, local policy, etc. See Mental Health America Prevention Screening and National Alliance on Mental Illness Screening and policy recommendations in the thread #mentalhealthadvocate #mha #nami #schooldistricts #preventivehealthcare #policy #education #educationalleadership #educationpolicy #samhsa

These are helpful tips from Place2Be but what would be even better is if we removed these unnecessary pressures especially in primary education.