Chair Lee on Mental Health Continuum school program funding
Lee asks about the $5M Mental Health Continuum program with DOE and DOHMH. Katz confirms discussions with OMB are ongoing and he feels hopeful, praising the model's teacher mentoring component. There are 16 clinics with no new openings planned.
Mental Health Continuum, obviously, we are huge fans of.
And it's an interagency partnership between H&H, DOHMH, and DOE to provide mental health care in the schools.
And the program is typically funded for $5 million.
We've been pushing every year to see if it could be baseline.
But will the $5 million for the Mental Health Continuum be allocated at adoption?
Do you know?
Have you been having these conversations with OMB?
We have been talking with them and it is in process.
Like you, I've actually visited them and they are amazing.
I particularly like that part of the model is to mentor teachers on how to care for someone in the classroom because most of the time is going to be spent in the classroom, not with the therapist.
So the model of saying, yes, we provide therapy.
But we also teach the teachers how to take care of kids who are in distress, because that's where most of the time they're going to be in the classroom.
So those discussions are ongoing, and I feel very hopeful.
Great.
And does the funding for $5 million keep programming at current levels?
Current level.
Current levels, okay.
And how many centers have been opened since this initiative began, and will there be any new clinics opening in 2026?
There are no new clinics opening.
Do you know the number?
Yeah, I think it's 16 clinics.
16, okay.
That's right, same, yeah.
Yep.