Call for Mental Health Services
I often hear people ask why school-based access to mental health care is so important.
In my role, what I pay attention to is what young people are actually describing when they have the space to talk. Our clinicians working in Sonoma Valley schools consistently share similar themes. Students are not only talking about academics. They are talking about translating for their families, navigating different cultural expectations, and trying to figure out where they belong.
One student described it as feeling “in between everything.”
Clinically, we would understand much of that as acculturation stress. Most students are not using that term, but they are describing the experience clearly.
This is especially relevant in our Latine community, where young people are often balancing multiple roles at once. Those experiences do not sit separately from mental health. They overlap with anxiety, depression, and trauma responses. They build over time.
At the same time, schools are being asked to do more with less. As funding shifts, mental health services are often reduced, even though the need has not gone away.
What we have learned through our school-based work is that how we deliver care matters just as much as what we deliver.
Through our American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)-supported program, clinicians provided short-term counseling in schools, typically around eight to ten sessions. Traditionally, we think of therapy as something that needs to be long-term to be effective. What we found was more specific. While longer-term care is still important for concerns like depression, even short-term support can reduce the day-to-day stress students are carrying.
Across our program, 96 percent of youth who completed services showed clinical improvement. That tells us something important.
It is not only about duration. It is about access.
When care is embedded in schools, students engage differently. They are not being asked to go somewhere unfamiliar or to start from zero. The clinician becomes part of an environment that already provides consistency and community.
That also matters culturally. When services feel connected to a student’s daily life, they are more likely to be used and trusted.
From my perspective, school-based mental health services are not a replacement for traditional care. They are an entry point. They allow us to respond earlier and to connect students to additional support when needed.
So the question becomes whether we are willing to continue investing in that model.
I think often about what it means for a student to have access to support in a place where they already feel some level of familiarity.
Not everything in their life changes overnight. But something shifts. They begin to make sense of what they are feeling. They are not carrying it alone in the same way.
That is a meaningful place to start.
As we recognize Mental Health Awareness Month, I encourage our community to learn more about school-based mental health services in their local district and to share those resources with families and friends.
If you are a school or community partner interested in expanding access to these services, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly ([email protected]) to learn more about partnering with Hanna Center.
Because access is not just about availability. It is about where and how care shows up.