High school wellness center helps provide mental health support
Mental health care is crucial for today’s students, but too often access can be a major challenge. Schools can play an important role in the social safety net. As students spend a bulk of their time in a school-based setting, community leaders — and schools themselves — are working to create solutions that better support students where they are.
Recently, Spring Branch Community Health Center received a $200,000 grant from the UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Texas to develop a Wellness Center within Northbrook High School (NHS) in Houston.
Northbrook has a large population of their student body that is eligible for the federal free lunch program, and some students face food insecurity or experience homelessness.
The need in this area for mental health support is great. Among youth surveyed by Understanding Houston, 16.4% of kids aged 12-17 say they experienced a major depressive episode and the region’s suicide rate continues to increase.1
Spring Branch Community Health Center saw a drop in adolescent visits to their facilities when students reach high school. This collaboration with NHS helps address that gap — with mental health services being a crucial aspect of that care.
The in-school Wellness Center has a counselor that works directly with the students by providing mental health visits and case management. The wellness counselor maintains a patient schedule in coordination with NHS staff that helps ensure no essential class time is missed by the students. Students can be referred to the wellness counselor by NHS staff, family or simply by walking in to a safe and welcoming environment.
On average, it is anticipated that each student will receive six 30-minute one-on-one counseling sessions with the wellness counselor.
“With the Wellness Center, we wanted to seek a partner that truly valued the population that we’re serving,” said Dr. Marlén Trujillo, CEO of Spring Branch Community Health Center. “Adolescents in general really require a little bit more education and attention — with this partnership that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re taking services to the high school, making them more accessible and eliminating those barriers.”
The support from UnitedHealthcare helps ensure the Wellness Center can help students for years to come.
“The relationship with UnitedHealthcare has become much stronger as we try to provide more services,” Marlén said. “We want the community to be healthier. We truly do want to make a difference in the community together.”
