Contact:
Deborah D. Oswalt, Executive Director
Virginia Health Care Foundation
(804) 828-5804
doswalt@vhcf.org
Richmond, Virginia, July 25, 2024 – The Virginia Health Care Foundation (VHCF) has awarded more than $1.2 million in grants to 4 Virginia organizations via its two-year Nurture Now: Helping Children Shine (NN) initiative. Nurture Now is designed to help address the crisis in children’s mental health by providing basic mental health services in School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs). Nurture Now is one of the three-prongs of VHCF’s Brighter Days Ahead mental health initiative launched in January 2024.
Mental Health America ranks Virginia 48th in youth mental health. Inadequate access to mental health services consistently tops the list of local community health needs assessments conducted by Virginia’s non-profit hospitals. Last year, 40% of parents indicated they are “extremely” or “very worried” their children are struggling with anxiety or depression, according to a Pew Research Center report.
“Schools are logical venues to provide needed Behavioral Health (BH) services,” says Deborah Oswalt, VHCF’s Executive Director. “Children congregate there daily, and there are educational professionals who have insights about the students who may need help. Unfortunately, most schools are overwhelmed with many post-pandemic dynamics, and most do not have the bandwidth to create school-based health centers on their own.”
VHCF targeted its grants to schools where the majority of children are eligible for the federal-free/reduced-price meal program or that need help addressing students’ mental health needs. With this initiative, VHCF is also establishing more sites that provide mental health services to children covered by Medicaid and their families. Three of the sites are in rural localities. Two offer medical services in addition to mental health services.
The following organizations have received Nurture Now grants:
Rockbridge Area Health Center was awarded $340,000 to fund a Master of Social Work graduate and a Physician Assistant to provide behavioral health care at Maury River Middle School and Rockbridge County High School.
Rockbridge Area Health Center is a community health center located in Rockbridge County in the Shenandoah Valley. It provides medical, dental, behavioral health, recovery services, care coordination, enrollment assistance, and medication assistance at three locations in Lexington and Buena Vista. It also provides medical and dental care via mobile units that travel throughout its service area, and it offers tele-behavioral health services.
Patrick Henry Family Services was awarded $312,000 to expand its successful school-based counseling services in Appomattox County to Appomattox Primary School and Appomattox Elementary School. VHCF funds will support the salaries and benefits of two Licensed Professional Counselors who will be deployed to these new schools.
Patrick Henry Family Services is a non-profit Lynchburg-based organization providing family support services, youth development, clinical counseling, and community education and training to families in Appomattox, Bedford, and Halifax Counties and the Cities of Danville and Lynchburg. Its counseling program was created in 2007 to meet the mental health needs of area foster children, has since expanded to provide trauma-informed, outpatient counseling to children and their families and/or caregivers. Counseling is currently offered at PHFS offices, and at Appomattox Middle School and Appomattox County High School.
Tri-Area Community Health was awarded $297,395 to establish a health center at Carrol County High School, the only high school in the county. The center will offer medical and mental health services. VHCF funds will support a Licensed Professional Counselor and 2 Mental Health Outreach and Education Workers.
Tri-Area Community Health is a community health center system located at the eastern end of Southwest Virginia. It provides medical, behavioral health, x-ray, pharmacy, medication assistance services, case management, transportation at each of its five sites in Franklin, Carroll, Floyd, and Grayson Counties. It also provides behavioral health services at a private primary care practice in Patrick County and offers medical and behavioral health services at a school-based health center in the City of Galax.
ChildSavers was awarded $264,195 to deliver mental health services at Lakeview Elementary School in Colonial Heights. VHCF funds will support the salaries and benefits of a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and part of the cost of a Site Supervisor to expand its School-Based Services. The Licensed Clinical Social Worker will provide 1-on-1 and group counseling. The Site Supervisor will provide programmatic support, supervision, and some direct clinical services.
ChildSavers has been serving the children of the City of Richmond and the surrounding localities in various capacities for almost 100 years. With the mission of guiding children through life’s critical moments, its program provides trauma-informed services to children at ChildSavers’ office in the East End of Richmond, at 15 school-based sites throughout Richmond Public Schools, Hopewell City Public Schools.
VHCF’s Nurture Now grants and the Brighter Days Ahead initiative of which they are a part are made possible by The Collis Warner Foundation, Humana, Sentara Healthcare, The Anne Mullens Orrell Charitable Trust, Bank of America, N.A. Trustees, Carilion, Dominion Energy, and The Claude Moore Charitable Foundation.
The Virginia Health Care Foundation is a non-profit public/private partnership with a mission to increase access to primary health care for uninsured and medically underserved Virginians. The Foundation was initiated by the General Assembly and its Joint Commission on Health Care in 1992. Since its inception, it has funded 544 community-based initiatives throughout the Commonwealth and established multiple programs and partnerships. Combined, they have helped more than 850,000 uninsured and medically underserved Virginians obtain the health care they need.
For more information about VHCF visit http://www.vhcf.org. For information about its behavioral health initiatives visit https://www.vhcf.org/who-and-how-we-help/behavioral-health/ or call (804) 828-5804.
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Last Updated on July 25, 2024
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