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Calling all Children's Mental Health Heroes:
ACTION ALERT!
The Senate Ways and Means Committee released their fiscal year 2019 budget on May 10th. It includes lots of good news, including a significant investment in infant and early childhood mental health.
There are two key initiatives that need your support.
Your voice can make a difference. Please use the form on this page to send a message to your State Senator.
Contacting your State Senator is effective, easy, and takes just one minute. Please use the form provided on this page to get started. You'll have the option to personalize your message and to increase your impact by sharing on facebook and twitter.
There are two amendments that need your support:
Mental Health Advocacy Program (MHAP) for Kids (#4800-0200)
Lead sponsor: Senator Crighton
Ask: $150,000
MHAP for Kids is a highly sought after service initially piloted in the Lowell, Lynn, and Boston Family Resource Centers (FRCs). MHAP for Kids improves the mental health of youth who have been diverted from juvenile court or are already court-involved and have unmet mental health needs by providing these children with a legal advocate trained in removing barriers to treatment. MHAP for Kids attorneys aim to divert children from possible or further court involvement, help children thrive in school, reduce family conflict, and minimize costly emergency room treatment. The program is support through a combination of public and private funds, and it is designed to be replicable in other FRCs.
We are grateful for the $50,000 allocated by Senate Ways and Means, but urge the Senate to support an increase of $150,000 to support the program's recent expansion to Boston and ongoing evaluation.
Expansion of Return to School “Bridge” Programs (#4590-0250)
Lead Sponsor: Senator Friedman
Ask: $250,000
The focus of Bridge programs is to ensure that youth who have been out of school for psychiatric or other hospitalizations can successfully transition back to school. Many districts already have these innovative programs, which provide emotional and academic support to students who have missed 5 or more days of school due to a mental health crisis, hospitalization, or serious medical problem. 50% of US high school students with serious mental illness drop out of school. Bridge programs are changing that script for Massachusetts youth with a short-term intervention that reduces drop-out rates to 8%.
We urge the Senate to include $250,000 in the budget to support ongoing technical assistance for schools that have bridge programs already, and to help under-resourced districts establish their own programs.
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On behalf of the whole Children's Mental Health Campaign team, THANK YOU for taking action to support kids!
#KidsMentalHealthMAtters
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