CICERO — Onondaga County is partnering with several area mental health service providers to increase mental health support systems in every school in the county.
On Friday, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon visited Cicero-North Syracuse High School to announce an additional $5.5 million investment in childhood mental health services.
The additional money will allow the county to work with partners to hire 105 additional mental health professionals, approximately doubling the county-funded personnel resources focused on childhood mental health.
McMahon said the county has witnessed increases in child abuse, addiction issues and a 12 percent increase in 911 calls related to mental health during the pandemic.
“We’re at a crisis point with many of our young people,” McMahon said. “Their training stopped. Their support systems stopped. Their ability to be with friends stopped. Their reliance on social media and technology, where we already have issues with cyber bullying and what not, they’re more reliant than ever [on social media] to communicate with their peers.”
The county’s childhood mental health initiative has three tiers. All students will have access to student assistant specialists who will focus on preventing mental health issues. Students who need additional supports will be able to work with a liaison from ACCESS CNY to provide early intervention services. The most complex mental health challenges will receive intensive intervention from a mental health clinician. Mental health clinics will be set up in every school in the county, McMahon said.
Previously, these services were available in Onondaga County schools that have lower income populations. Now they will be available countywide.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of money your parents make,” McMahon said. “Mental health crosses all those boundaries.”
“These supports are essential,” said North Syracuse Central School District Superintendent Dan Bowles. “Having that access available in our schools has been critical not just for students but for their families as well.”
Teachers, families and the students themselves are all important cogs in identifying students who may be facing mental health challenges, Bowles said. And effectively having a dialogue about mental health challenges requires the district to communicate with students through the social media platforms they use.
“We’re trying to meet them where they are,” Bowles said.
