More Cumberland County Schools have access to mental health providers on campus this year. | Pexels/SHVETS
More Cumberland County Schools have access to mental health providers on campus this year. | Pexels/SHVETS
Cumberland County Schools is answering a call to expand mental health services, a need that was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think COVID opened the floodgates for a need that was already there,” Dr. Natasha Scott, executive director of student services of Cumberland County Schools, told CBS 17.
This is the second year of the initiative, and it calls for two mental health providers within the Alliance Health network to attend to the needs at 18 Cumberland County Schools, and that includes therapists who provide on-campus behavioral therapy for individual students with the consent of the parents.
During the first year, they covered 16 schools, with about 144 parents consenting to their children receiving therapy.
“It’s convenient for parents because this prevents them from having to check their child out of school and take them to an appointment,” Scott said.
Over the next couple of years, the school system wants to expand the service to all of its schools.
“We want to move slowly so that we can ensure that high-quality services provided across the district to parents,” Scott said.
Cumberland County Schools is looking for more quality mental health providers as the district works to connect more families to the service.
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