Contact: Xanthi Soriano, Executive Director, Communications
Phone: (916) 228-2713 • Email: xsoriano@scoe.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, December 21, 2023
WHAT: Significant barriers in mental health care for children and teens include access disparities, especially for those in poverty or from minority groups. Minority children often receive inferior health services than non-Latino white peers, affecting their overall health, mental well-being, and learning ability. These disparities can also hinder their long-term success in many areas of life.
The Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) invites members of the media and policymakers to tour a Center of Wellness to demonstrate the innovative, preventative, and sustainable delivery model of mental health access for students that was in development prior to the pandemic and is now in full deployment and expansion. There are currently about 40 clinicians deployed, and the goal is to place one at every school in the county.
The viability of this unique approach has been called into question and SCOE, together with its partners, would like to erase any doubts by bringing awareness to the efficacy and sustainability of this new approach to mental health care access for youth.
The vision of SCOE and the Sacramento County Department of Health Services is to help bring education and health systems together to enhance access to preventive mental health and wellness services. Placing a clinician on each school campus through the county Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) helps create immediate mental health care access, connections with families, and a culture of wellness prevention throughout the school community.
WHEN: Thursday, January 18, 2024 (8:30–11 a.m.)
(Contact Xanthi Soriano by email—xsoriano@scoe.net—for a detailed agenda.)
WHERE: Ethel I. Baker Elementary School Library, 5717 Laurine Way, Sacramento, CA 95824
WHO: David W. Gordon, Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools; Chris Williams, Executive Director of School-Based Mental Health and Wellness
WHY: The viability of this unique approach has been called into question and SCOE, together with its partners, would like to erase any doubts by bringing awareness to the efficacy and sustainability of this new approach to mental health care access for youth.
DOCUMENTS: Background Information and Infographics