Planning Council Supports Mental Health Services for Youth

Did you know that...

• Research predicts that approximately 26,000 children living in Milwaukee currently have an unmet need for mental health treatment?
• In 2008, the Planning Council for Health and Human Services, Inc. facilitated an outcome-focused planning process to develop strategies to help students with emergent mental health needs achieve educational and life success?
• The Greater Milwaukee Foundation recently awarded $150,000 to the Planning Council to support a coalition in implementing a pilot program to improve youth mental health services?

Milwaukee's Youth Mental Health Initiative (MYMHI) is a pilot program that will allow community providers to deliver services in schools or other convenient locations, raise awareness about mental health among teachers and parents, and develop policy solutions to sustain funding for mental health services for youth over the long-term.

Partners include representatives from Pathfinders, Aurora Family Services, Rogers Memorial Hospital, Sebastian Family Psychology Practice, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), the City Health Department, Milwaukee County, Medical College of Wisconsin, and HMOs.

MYMHI will be implemented this fall in four diverse MPS schools (Hopkins Street Elementary School, Audubon Technology and Communications Center, Wedgewood Park International School, and O.W. Holmes Elementary School), and will focus on students who have needs that extend beyond what can be addressed in a traditional school setting, but are not yet at a crisis level.