CHOC’s ongoing efforts to address the youth mental health crisis by providing services in schools has received a significant boost from the state.
As part of its $4.4-billion Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI), the state awarded nearly $750,000 to CHOC to support kids who have experienced trauma.
Dr. Heather Huszti chief psychologist at CHOC, says the grant dovetails nicely with CHOC’s successful and growing WellSpaces program, in which students have designated rooms to visit when they feel stressed or have other emotional needs.
“We wanted the opportunity to spread mental health services to additional schools we have the chance to support, and this grant will help us do that,” Dr. Huszti said.
The $750,000 will be spent over the next two years and will place CHOC clinicians at schools to train counselors to run evidence-based group sessions for kids who have experienced violence, accidents, physical abuse, injuries, domestic violence, natural or human-caused disasters, or other trauma, Dr. Huszti said.
The grant allows CHOC mental health clinicians to co-lead groups with school-based mental health staff so that schools can sustain these services after the completion of the grant and run the groups on their own.
Schools would help identify students and work with parents of children who might benefit from the groups.
The groups initially will be offered to students in middle and high school. Providing services to all communities is a key component of the CYBHI grants, Dr. Huszti said.
Two-time grant recipient
The CHOC award came during the second phase of CYBHI funding. In this phase, $150 million in grants were awarded to 262 organizations.
CHOC was one of eight organizations in Orange County to receive one of the phase-two grants, which are earmarked for evidence-based Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) programs.
CHOC is a two-time recipient of CYBHI grants, having first been awarded a grant for Parent and Caregiver Support Programs and Practices in July 2023. That grant funded the HealthySteps program in primary care clinics.
HealthySteps is an evidence-based approach to help support families with newborns and identify any developmental needs or support children might need up to their third birthday through a partnership of the family, HealthySteps specialists, and pediatricians.
Sobering statistics
CHOC’s mental health team has been working with population health in schools to provide mental health support and consultation amid the ongoing youth mental health crisis.
In California, over 284,000 youths cope with major depression and 66% of kids with depression do not receive treatment, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health. Between 2019 and 2020, suicide rates for kids ages 10 to 18 increased 20%, that report found.
During the first year of the pandemic, one in five children reported an increase in depression and one in four children reported an increase in symptoms of anxiety, according to a study by the UCLA Center for Health Services and Society.
During COVID-19, thoughts of suicide or self-injury among youth increased 13 percent, and psychotic disorders grew 11 percent, that study found.
A team effort
Dr. Huszti said many counselors at Orange County schools have received training in CBITS but groups have not been consistently offered to students because there’s some complexity involved in running the sessions.
“The idea is to take these people who have been trained, and our clinicians will help run the groups with them, with the understanding that the school-based mental health team eventually will do it themselves so we can spread CBITS throughout Orange County schools,” she explained.
CHOC psychologists and social workers will be involved in the grant-funded effort, Dr. Huszti added.
