A new federal grant to Minnesota Community Care is helping give more direct care to students.

Starting this school year 10 St. Paul public high schools will benefit from a 150-thousand-dollar-a-year federal grant given to Minnesota Community Care Healthstart for new pilot programs. It will help students as young as 14-years-old.

Through 2023 the money will be used for: Teletherapy, helping students access a licensed pediatric psychiatrist electronically when an office visit isn't possible; for health educators to reach students before intensive clinical care is needed; and for outreach workers who'll talk with families and students about how to access the new care.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness said the average age for early signs of mental illness is 14-years-old but most people don't seek help until adulthood. What's more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said suicide was the second leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 24 in the U.S. in 2017. The goal of this school-based suicide prevention and mental health care program is to change that.

KSTP

"It also is connecting families that might not be able to connect with those services," said Linda Dick-Olson with Minnesota Community Care's Healthstart program.

Dick-Olson said, "We are increasing the amount of therapists that are reflective of the clients that we are serving, and I think that that's really important."

Randy Snyder, a social worker at Washington Technology Magnet School, said: "Some of these kids and families are bringing in homelessness, they're bringing in familial, multi-generational mental health challenges, they're bringing in substance abuse issues, they're bringing in grief and loss."

Snyder said the new efforts are a way to get parents and teachers to understand students' mental health needs: "I think the district's push to help all of our staff understand the life experiences and sometimes reactivity and trauma experiences that a lot of the kids have, it's really important that we wrap our heads around that."

Last year there were no licensed trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapists in St. Paul public high schools. But to meet a growing need, this academic year, Minnesota Community Care said there are nine.