Trump cut its grant, but Wake County will still offer therapy in every school
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wake schools plan therapy access in all 200 schools despite grant loss
- Trump administration cut $14.1M mental health grant over DEI concerns
- District pursues both virtual and in-person therapy with parent consent
Wake County plans to offer mental health services such as therapy in all 200 schools by the end of the school year, despite losing a $14.1 million federal grant.
In April, the Trump administration canceled $1 billion in federal school mental health grants — including $14.1 million for the Wake County school system — on the grounds they promoted diversity, equity and inclusion. Wake says it’s found an alternative way to expand its school-based mental health program and wants families to know they can get therapy for their children this school year.
“For some students, their biggest barrier to learning isn’t their academic skill set,” said Megan Pohl, a Wake County school social worker assigned to Salem Middle School in Apex. “A lot of it is just emotional and mental things that they are going through at the time. And so having school based mental health in our schools really helps break down that barrier and helps give students the skills to be academically successful.”
The goal is to provide both in-person and virtual therapy options this school year for students at every Wake school, according to Brittani Bass, the district’s coordinator of the school-based mental health program.
Students only can get therapy if their parents consent.
Youth mental health crisis
Wake launched the school-based mental health program in the 2021-22 school year amid reports nationally of a youth mental health crisis coming out of the pandemic.
Statewide results from the 2023 North Carolina Youth Behavior Risk Survey showed alarming figures:
- 39% of high school students reported feeling sad or hopeless.
- 18% of high school students seriously considered suicide.
- 10% of high school students attempted suicide in the past 12 months.
In October, the Wake County school system announced it had received a $14.1 million mental health grant over five years. Wake planned to use the money to hire 27 people, including 20 therapists.
But after the grant was canceled, Wake has had to rely on contracting with community service providers. Wake is partnering with 10 providers this school year to offer both in-person therapy and teletherapy at schools.
“I’m thankful we have strong community partners that are willing to support us,” Bass said in an interview Thursday. “While the grant didn’t go as we had planned, we are still meeting the needs of our students.”
Daybreak Health handles most of Wake’s teletherapy services and accepts Medicaid and private insurance.
The nine other providers will mainly offer in-person therapy. Depending on the provider, they accept insurance and may take Medicaid.
Program helping students at Salem Middle School
The program served 286 Wake students last school year, including seven at Salem Middle. The program has improved attendance, social skills and classroom engagement for the students receiving therapy, according to Pohl.
“That is their chance to let it all go with a trusted, licensed professional,” Pohl said. “So you might have a student that has never been able to just get everything off their chest, if you will. Like, we bottle things up all the time because we don’t know who we can trust and not trust with our things.”
The program is invaluable, according to Pohl, because counselors and social workers have only so much time to see students. Students who are referred for therapy get a weekly 50-minute session with a provider.
“For a school counselor to be able to dedicate 50 minutes a week on one student is a lot,” Pohl said. “We have over 1,000 students in this building. So it’s just an amazing support system that we have for students that just need a little bit of extra support.”
Therapy helping to ‘save a life’
Daybreak offers family teletherapy to elementary school students and one-on-one teletherapy for students ages 10 and over.
Depression and anxiety are the major reasons that students are referred to Daybreak. Within six weeks, 81% of the students see a reduction in their symptoms, according to Brittany Whidbee, community outreach liaison for Daybreak Health.
During a school board committee meeting earlier this week, Whidbee presented the testimonial of a student who said Daybreak had saved their life on several occasions.
“Maybe seeing a clinician during that moment prevented them from any harm they could have done to themselves, maybe someone else,” Whidbee said in an interview Thursday. “I wouldn’t just say that’s specific to Daybreak. I think any program, any therapy program, you know, can save a life.”
Wake wants more high school students getting therapy
Wake is hoping in particular to get more high school students in the program this school year. School officials were surprised how few high school students were referred last school year.
To get the message out, fliers and signs will be hung in high school restrooms, including on mirrors and in bathroom stalls with information about Daybreak.
“They will still need parental consent, so they can’t bypass that by any means,” Whidbee said. “ But this could be a way to almost plant a seed or a light bulb in that student’s head to say, maybe I do need this.”
