For Immediate Release
October 8, 2024
Contact: Maya Meinert
media@childrenspartnership.org
The Children’s Partnership Announces Eight California High Schools Selected for New Pilot Program to Support Youth Mental Health
LOS ANGELES, CA – The Children’s Partnership (TCP) today announced the eight (8) California public high schools that will serve as partners and grantees for the Peer-to-Peer Youth Mental Health High School Pilot Demonstration, a historic $8 million investment in a youth-driven approach to mental health and well-being in partnership with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).
Mayra E. Alvarez, president of The Children’s Partnership, said, “In response to the existing youth mental health crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, young people across California advocated for culturally responsive, gender-affirming mental health support. We are excited to partner with these eight high schools to support unique, community-specific peer support programs. Centering the voices of young people and community members drives good public policy, and we are determined to ensure this program influences future mental health investments.”
Michelle Baass, director of the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), said, “We cannot rely on conventional medical models alone to address our nation’s escalating youth mental health crisis. The fact is that teens listen to other teens. By building networks of peer-to-peer support, we can support young people who do not, or cannot, access traditional mental health support systems.”
The project is a direct recommendation from TCP’s youth policy council, The Hope, Healing and Health Collective (H3C), made up of 15 youth leaders from across the nation who worked together to identify strategies to improve the mental health of marginalized youth of color and their communities. Peer support programs in schools are a multi-benefit solution to the youth mental health crisis that addresses an over-reliance on clinical models and focuses on prevention. Although peer support workers do not duplicate or replace the roles of therapists, case managers or other care team members, by sharing their lived experiences and practical guidance, peer supporters offer culturally responsive, affirming care that often does not exist within traditional clinical models.
Raven Jones, TCP’s director of Peer-to-Peer Youth Mental Health, said, “I’m thrilled to partner with the Department of Health Care Services to invest in the vision of these eight diverse school communities and the young people in them, who will have the training and resources to be active participants in youth mental health well-being. The Children’s Partnership believes in the power of young people to contribute meaningfully in identifying solutions to the barriers they face. Increased support and investment in peer support models is a recommendation that comes directly from California youth, and we are proud to support this effort.”
The eight schools that were selected as grantees for the pilot demonstration will receive funding to develop a new or further expand an existing peer-to-peer program. They are:
- El Cerrito High School (El Cerrito, CA) will work on expanding two distinct and interconnected peer-to-peer programs facilitated by their James Morehouse Project Wellness Center, which houses a mental health peer counseling program inclusive of conflict mediation and restorative justice, and culturally and linguistically relevant mental health education for students and families, with particular focus on Black, Latine and LGBTQ+ students.
- Da Vinci RISE High (El Segundo, CA) will build a peer-to-peer mentoring program into a newly launched mental health career pathway. This will be RISE’s first Career Technical Education pathway, enabling students to gain career experience and dual enrollment, alongside critical mental health skills and support.
- Nevada Union High School (Grass Valley, CA) will continue to expand their peer-to-peer program, Restorative Accountable Youth Solutions (RAYS). RAYS is a youth-led alternative suspension and intervention program based in restorative practices. RAYS aims to increase community connection and support mental wellness by keeping students a part of the school community and offering them support as opposed to suspension.
- Oakland Technical High School (Oakland, CA) will invest in their mental health and wellness youth peer support program, Empower, which offers a transformative journey for students. The program engages 9th and 10th grade students to apply to become youth mental health trainees. Students undergo comprehensive training during dedicated classes weekly.
- Serrano High School (Phelan, CA) is the only four-year comprehensive public high school in the Snowline Joint Unified School District. Serrano High School enrolls students of the High Desert communities of Phelan, Pinon Hills, Baldy Mesa, Oak Hills, Wrightwood and Victorville, and students by permit from the surrounding communities of the Antelope Valley and Victorville. With this funding, Serrano will expand their current peer counseling program and add a new peer counseling and wellness center on campus.
- Sierra High School (San Bernardino, CA) is a continuation school located in San Bernardino County, the largest county in the United States, with 19 mental health provider shortage areas. Sierra will invest in a student-led Peer Educator & Wellness Peers support program, training student peer specialists in mental health literacy, stigma reduction and community engagement.
- Mission Hills High School (San Marcos, CA) will invest in a peer support mentorship program that will have students enroll in a dual enrollment college course co-taught by a California State University, San Marcos, professor, a school counselor, and a teacher. This unique course structure will offer students both CSUSM credits and SMUSD credits, with peer support mentors earning field experience hours while working in the student-led wellness center.
- Antioch High School (Antioch, CA) will expand its existing peer advocate program that provides student peer advocates with in-depth training to serve as the first tier of emotional support for their peers as well as mental health campus ambassadors working to de-stigmatize mental health within their school community.
The collaborative partnership with the eight high school grantees will help TCP identify best practices for peer-to-peer programs that can be implemented statewide, serve as a model for national efforts, and contribute to advocacy for sustainable funding and infrastructure for youth- driven, culturally responsive peer support programs in California.
In addition to funding, The Children’s Partnership will steward a Peer-to-Peer Learning community that brings together all grantees participating in the pilot demonstration, national peer-to-peer experts, and advocates and mental health policy professionals committed to advancing progress in peer support.
The Youth Peer-to-Peer Support Program is made possible by funding from the California’s Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, a multi-year, multi-department package of investments that reimagines the systems that support behavioral health and wellness for all California’s children, youth and their families.
###
The Children’s Partnership (TCP) is a California-based children’s policy and advocacy organization committed to advancing child health equity through public policy, research and community engagement. TCP envisions a California where all children—regardless of their race, ethnicity or place of birth—have the resources and opportunities they need to grow up healthy and thrive. Learn more at childrenspartnership.org.
