Through new mental health initiative, Henrico Schools now offers free therapy for high-schoolers

As a part of Henrico Schools’ new youth mental health program, all high school students now have access to a free teletherapy service, as well as a free online mental health care coordination service available to all students and staff.

HCPS announced its new mental health program “Henrico CARES” this past March, following reports from mental health providers that the number of suicide-risk screenings for Henrico students had increased by 42% during the past three years. HCPS officials promised a total investment of $17.8 million into the program during the next five years.

During the 2024-2025 school year, HCPS is set to invest $1.8 million to launch the first phase of Henrico CARES. As of September, the division had hired five more school-based mental health staff and has partnered with two online mental health care services – Hazel Health and Care Solace.

Hazel Health, a short-term teletherapy program, is available to all ninth through 12th grade students at no cost. Schools already have started referring students to the program, and so far 19 families have had their first appointment. 

After giving consent for treatment, families begin the program with an initial intake session, during which an intake coordinator uses several screeners to gauge how a student is doing and then works with the family to devise a treatment plan, including determining the number of sessions. Students can receive up to two months of weekly therapy sessions before being discharged from the program.

Students can attend the virtual sessions at home anytime between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., except during school hours. With high school-aged students, most providers will work on anxiety-reduction and emotion management, as well as other life skills, according to Hazel Health implementation manager Claudia Nogales.

“Here in high school, we’re really working on life skills and psycho-educational skills,” she said. “We do a lot of anxiety-reduction techniques and then we do CBT, that’s cognitive behavioral therapy, goal setting, and then coping skills.”

Although the program only lasts for a maximum of two months, Hazel Health coordinators will help families find providers in their community for longer-term care if needed, Nogales said. HCPS also plans to expand the service to middle schoolers by the 2026-2027 year and expand service hours to during the school day by 2027-2028.

All HCPS students and staff members also have access to another new online service, Care Solace, which provides users with a 24/7 live, multilingual care coordinator who will help them access mental health care providers in their community. Coordinators also help families schedule appointments, said HCPS Student Support and Wellness Director Liz Parker. So far, 277 HCPS families have begun the process and 90 have had their first appointment through Care Solace.

“Any students, staff member, or family member just calls and there’s a live person there that confidentially walks you through all of the steps,” Parker said. “They actually research for you, find you a provider, and schedule your appointment – do all of that work for you, because that’s the most complicated part, and it happens very quickly.”

Many families struggle to access quality mental health care because of the difficulty of navigating the system, Parker said.

“Our goal is to remove any barriers to access for mental health services and supports for students who need them,” she said, “One of the hardest parts about mental health is navigating and trying to find a provider. It’s complicated, it’s confusing, it’s overwhelming, and so [Care Solace] does all of that for you.”

Other barriers for families include a lack of health insurance, being unable to take time off to provide transportation to in-person care, and lasting stigma around mental health, Nogales said. One of the biggest obstacles can be long waitlists for local mental health providers, she said, which Hazel Health hopes to alleviate for many families.

“What I hear from my partners in other districts is that there is a really long waitlist to access mental health services, so what we do is we focus on the capacity of our team to ensure that we can have shorter waitlists from what you’re seeing in the community,” she said.

HCPS officials also have trained a number of staffers to be able to educate communities on mental health – the signs that someone is struggling, how to respond, and how to connect them with care – in an effort to reduce stigma around mental health care. Staff members can offer community members these trainings at no cost, Parker said. 

“We want to really help community members to understand more about mental health and what to do if you see someone that might be struggling and how to connect with them and then connect them with care,” she said. “And we can offer that at no cost to any communities, faith communities at all.”

During the next five years, HCPS will continue to expand the Henrico CARES program, with plans to increase the program’s funding each year, hire five new school mental health staff annually, and create a Henrico youth mental health task force.

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.