Altoona Regional Health System Behavioral Health Services and 20 Blair County elementary schools will soon offer students a more effective referral system to mental health services, according to a press release issued earlier this week.
A $244,258 federal grant will be used to train school staff and increase information to students about mental illness.
“With this grant, we will be able to educate teachers, school counselors, school nurses, administrators and parents about risk factors regarding mental illness and drug abuse in young children and most importantly, how to prevent such problems,” said project director Evelyn Madison, M.S.W. of Altoona Regional.
The Bellwood-Antis School District is serving as the Lead Education Agency; a representative for the other school districts.
“This is a cooperative project between the schools and Altoona Regional, which is the county mental health services provider,” said Terri Harpster, principal at Myers Elementary in the Bellwood-Antis School District. “The project will establish a uniform tool for assessment and referral of students for services. It will also develop a protocol for crisis intervention in the elementary schools.”
The other participating districts are: Altoona Area, Claysburg-Kimmel, Hollidaysburg Area, Spring Cove and Williamsburg.
Tyrone Area Elementary School is an existing certified Elementary Student Assistance site.
“We received training in conjunction with school-based mental health services six years ago, and it was a tremendously worthwhile endeavor,” said Dani Simmons, Student Assistance Program team co-chair.
The grant is awarded for 18 months and ends in March 2008. The first training session is scheduled for spring 2007. St. Vincent College’s Prevention Project will provide the training. All costs of the project are funded by the grant.
In addition to the training, the grant provides each school with $500 to purchase books on mental health topics written at the primary and intermediate levels for their school library.
A speaker’s bureau will be available to present programs to parent and community groups, discussing the referral process and the need for early identification of mental health problems.
