20 May CMHS Receives $166,751 Grant from Jackson County Community Children’s Services Fund

Comprehensive Mental Health Services, Inc. (CMHS) recently received a grant for $166,751 from the Jackson County Community Children’s Services Fund to place prevention specialists and therapists in numerous Jackson County schools, which significantly decreases risk factors and gives CMHS direct access to youth in crisis.

Funding from the Jackson County Community Children’s Services Fund will add a second Prevention Specialist in 2018 and two therapists in 2019.  The program will ensure any student who needs to join a prevention group or needs therapy are not put on a wait list. Prevention Specialists can handle 25-27 groups of 5-10 youth at a time and each therapist, a caseload of 10-15 students.

The School Prevention and Therapy Program’s purpose is to ensure students gain life skills and self-efficacy to lead healthier lives. The program: 1) Teaches students the necessary skills to resist peer pressures to smoke, drink, and use drugs; 2) Helps students develop greater self-esteem, social skills, resilience, empathy, decision making skills, and self-confidence; 3) Enables students to effectively cope with stress, anger, and anxiety; 4) Increases student knowledge of the consequences of substance abuse; and 5) Enhances cognitive and behavioral competency to reduce and prevent a variety of health risk behaviors, including suicide. The program encourages students to feel more confident in themselves.

The program targets youth grades 3-12, identified by school counselors/staff as having significant family, school, peer, or individual risk factors. During the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 school years the program will serve 800 students in the Blue Springs, Independence, and Fort Osage school districts through therapy and prevention services.