Some rural Arizona middle schools will soon be able to access free mental health services.
The Cook Center for Human Connection is a Utah-based non profit that works with schools across the country to provide mental health and suicide prevention tools.
It just received a $3.99 million Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Cook Center CEO and President Anne Brown said they’ll be reaching out to schools in Arizona and New Mexico, offering various free services like parent coaching.
“Parent coaching allows any family in a participating school to be able to access a mental health coach that will work with them up to 30 minutes a week on whatever aspect of parenting they may be struggling with," Brown said.
They’ll also offer professional development for the staff at each school to help them identify students who might be struggling and learn how they can help.
Brown said parents who need help now can visit ParentGuidance.org, which provides one-on-one parent coaching, interactive webinars and online courses.
