Henrico Schools and County leaders announced a new comprehensive mental healthcare plan for HCPS students and families at a public meeting March 8.

The Henrico CARES program will staff schools with more mental health professionals and better connect students and families to private or community mental healthcare providers. The initiative will help remove the barriers to accessing mental health services for the youth and families that desperately need help, according to Henrico Board of Supervisors Chairman Tyrone Nelson.

“As a parent and a faith leader, I’ve seen how truly devastating mental health challenges can be to our young people and to their family,” Nelson said. “We have a responsibility as a community to get them the help that they need. And here in Henrico, we are.”

HCPS mental health providers have seen a 42% increase in the number of suicide-risk screenings completed for students over the past three years. This “staggering increase” prompted leaders from HCPS and Henrico Area Mental Health & Developmental Services to develop an immediate plan.

“Whether it was the lingering isolation from the pandemic, anxiety about the future, the endless bombardment of social media, or something else, our young people are struggling now like never before,” Nelson said. “Depression, feelings of hopelessness and helplessness and even suicide are draining our kids of their potential.”

So far in 2024, Henrico MHDS also has reported a 30% increase in youth requesting same-day access to services, with 20% younger than age 10. And of those who requested services, 26% acknowledged that they suffered from substance abuse and 7% were considered at an elevated risk of suicide.

Henrico County will invest a total of $17.8 million into the program over the next five years. Beginning in fiscal year 2024-2025, the county will put $1.8 million towards the program and increase funding incrementally to reach $5 million by fiscal year 2028-2029.

HCPS will partner with Henrico MHDS and several private and community care providers to implement the program in phases, beginning in the 2024-2025 school year. The partnership will establish in-school services from outside mental healthcare providers and add five school-based mental health staff positions to the school system every year for the next five years.

Middle and high school students also will have access to a no-cost, short-term teletherapy service they can use at home or at school. Younger elementary students with significant behavioral challenges will have expanded access to parent-child interaction therapy.

Henrico Schools leaders hope that the program not only will lead to improved mental health among students but also reduce some of the negative behavioral and academic impacts of mental health challenges, such as chronic absenteeism and student misbehavior and violence.

“By strengthening our youth mental health care system, we also can reduce unwanted outcomes that are often associated with unaddressed social, emotional and mental health needs of school-aged youth,” said HCPS Director of Student Support and Wellness Liz Parker. “These include chronic absenteeism, learning disruptions, behavioral challenges that result in disciplinary action, lower academic achievement and higher dropout rates.”

‘Am I safe here?’

Kenya Sarai, a junior at Varina High School, said that substance abuse was a significant mental health challenge among her peers, as well as academic pressure, testing anxiety, physical or verbal abuse at home, and trauma from gun violence.

“The trauma that’s surrounded by shootings can leave harmful effects on us as students. Even though Varina is a beautiful but open campus, oftentimes I feel, ‘Am I safe here?’” Sarai said. “And I also notice other stressors, like substance use, whether it’s smoking, vaping and illegal drugs.”

As a part of Henrico CARES, HCPS will increase early, intensive interventions for mental health, substance use, and youth violence, and incorporate school curricula that focuses on reducing substance use and violence and on increasing mental health literacy. A screening program to identify students who need additional social or emotional care early on will also be phased in by HCPS.

Henrico CARES will also provide families access to either a 24/7 live, multilingual “care coordinator” or an online self-service tool that helps locate verified mental healthcare providers.

After the Henrico Youth Violence Prevention Committee was established three years ago, members began working on a task force that would address mental health needs in Henrico Schools. Over the past seven months, that task force, which included representatives from HCPS, Henrico MHDS, community and private providers, and local families that had navigated the mental health system, worked to develop the Henrico CARES plan.

“Henrico CARES represents the most comprehensive and transformational project that I have been part of in my scarily four decades of doing this work,” Daniel Rigsby, the MHDS Director for Clinical Services, said.

‘We cannot do this alone’

The Henrico CARES program follows another recent effort by the county to address youth mental health; on Feb. 29, county leaders celebrated the opening of the Youth Crisis Receiving Center at St. Joseph’s Villa, the first youth crisis center in Virginia that will treat youth ages 7-17 in the region who need immediate mental health services.

Henrico County is not alone in facing youth mental health challenges; Virginia ranks 48th in the nation when it comes to access to youth mental healthcare, according to Mental Health Virginia. According to a 2021 survey, 38.2% of Virginia youth “felt sad or hopeless almost every day for at least 2 weeks,” 20.5% “seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year,” and 16.4% “made a plan about how they would attempt suicide.”

“Suicide is now the second-leading cause of death for Virginia children ages 10 to 14,” Henrico School Board Chair Alicia Atkins said. “So let the gravity of that sink in.”

To solve the area’s youth mental health crisis, the whole Henrico community must work together to provide immediate support for struggling youth, Nelson said.

“As we move forward, I want to emphasize that we cannot do this alone. Our challenge is bigger than any local government and the school system can solve,” he said. “We need the entire community, including private mental health care providers, primary and pediatric care professionals, the faith community, and especially our families.”

* * *

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.