Everyone at Mission Bay High School knows wellness center coordinator Gloria Cota. When students are stressed, anxious or grieving, they come to her.
“They’re telling me, ‘I can’t breathe. I lock up. I can’t focus. It’s fog,’ and it is just a trend slowly kind of growing and growing,” Cota said.
She said the growing stress and anxiety trend calls for funding to support them.
“It’s not really optional,” she said. “It’s really essential.”
The Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative is a statewide push to expand behavioral health support for people 25 and younger. It comes with $4 billion and state law (Assembly Bill 144) that requires insurance companies to reimburse schools for the services they provide like screenings, therapy and case management.
Mission Bay High is among hundreds of schools in San Diego getting this program off the ground. Once it’s found its flow, students will be able to sidestep some appointments, deductibles and copays for care with a private provider and get that same care for free at school.
“It’s breaking down that stigma of mental health by having these spaces,” Cota said. “We’re breaking it down by saying, ‘It’s OK to not be OK.’”
Heather Nemour, coordinator for Student Wellness in School Culture at San Diego County Office of Education, said districts are grappling with budget cuts and layoffs right now. This extra funding protects the staff in behavioral health positions and the students who depend on them.
“It’s really a game changer,” she said. “I would say that the biggest win is there is now a way for schools to bring in revenue for services they’re already providing to students.”
Nemour said 87 San Diego school districts are implementing this program and eight districts have already gotten reimbursements.
For schools to receive reimbursements, parents need to share their child’s insurance information with their school. If the student is an adult, they can share this information themselves.
The San Diego Unified School District’s website says information is protected under FERPA and HIPPA and not shared with outside agencies.
