Students in Carroll, Haralson and Heard County’s school systems will receive extra support for their behavioral, emotional and developmental wellness through a new grant awarded to Tanner Health System.
Willowbrooke at Tanner, the behavioral health service of Tanner Health System, will use the three-year federal grant to add school-based behavioral health therapists to its staff and provide outpatient behavioral health services to several area schools.
“Access to behavioral health services is essential to helping many children grow into healthy, productive adults,” said Paula Gresham, administrator of Willowbrooke at Tanner. “Unfortunately, for many children — especially those in rural areas — getting the help they need just isn’t possible. This grant will help us overcome that obstacle in west Georgia.”
The grant will allow Tanner to build on a pilot program developed by Willowbrooke at Tanner and Haralson County Schools. That program allowed Willowbrooke at Tanner to embed a behavioral health therapist within Haralson County Schools to provide a variety of school-based behavioral health services to students, including crisis management, linkage to services, individual and family therapy, along with in-home counseling and support. During the summer months, the therapist is available to families in an in-clinic and in-home treatment setting.
Since its implementation in March 2014, Haralson County teachers have reported decreases in crisis situations due to early intervention, and 2014 Georgia Student Health Survey results indicate drastic decreases in the percentage of students seriously considering suicide in the past 12 months and the percentage of students who attempted suicide in the past 12 months within Haralson County Schools.
The pilot program began during the 2013 school year, serving 55 students and their families during that first year. Last year, the second year of the program, Willowbrooke at Tanner served 94 students and their families.
Tanner received the grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Rural Health Care Services Outpatient Program, part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The grant includes almost $199,000 in first-year funding and more than $194,000 in funding for two subsequent years, based on the availability of funds and evidence of satisfactory progress. The total potential award of the grant is more than $587,000.
“This grant will allow us to extend behavioral health services to previously underserved populations,” said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner Health System. “Tanner was one of only 60 organizations nationwide to earn a Rural Health Care Services Outreach Program grant this year, and the only one in Georgia.”
Willowbrooke at Tanner will work with Carroll County Schools, Haralson County Schools and the Heard County School System to identify nine rural, regional schools where outpatient behavioral health services will be offered. The programs will focus on prevention and intensive intervention with evidence-based practices.
“We are looking to increase collaboration and build integrated behavioral health programs within these schools,” said Gresham. “Our focus is on helping students succeed academically and socially.”
Willowbrooke at Tanner has a long track record of working alongside area schools to help children, offering a variety of treatment tracks, outpatient programs, state-approved Core services and even inpatient care for children and adolescents.
More information on Willowbrooke at Tanner is available online at www.WillowbrookeAtTanner.org.