By Edgar Garcia
02/13/2023
UTRGV was given a grant of 5.7 million dollars by the Texas Department of Education to assist local school districts with student’s mental health, with the end goal of instating 120 school psychologists, counselors and social workers across seven districts.
The program, Project MHS Access: Accessing Mental Health Services will put 24 school psychologist, counselors and social worker interns from UTRGV in seven school districts (Brownsville, McAllen, Edcouch-Elsa, PSJA, Sharyland, Harlingen and Mission) over the course of 5 years to help assist students with their mental health.
The grant money will primarily be used to fund the interns to maintain the program via stipend and reduce financial strain on the school district.
Professor of Practice at UTRGV Nancy Razo leads the project as its principal investigator and was one of the main factors in receiving the grant. She spoke on the importance and goals she has for the program and the potential benefit it can have on students from the Valley.
“I’m really hoping to build awareness in our community. There is a lot of stigma when it comes to mental health services, so I’m really hoping [for] that through the work of our interns that are very well prepared in all three disciplines,” Razo said. “People become more aware that supporting our kinder[garden] through high school students, right, is very important. They’re going through a lot right now, there are a lot of stressors out there for the students. So being able to provide mental health services through the schools is very important.”
MHS Access is also led by UTRGV Assistant Professor Noe Ramos and Associate Professor of Counseling Suzanne Mannis. They, along with Razo, have high hopes for the program to assist students from diverse backgrounds with their mental health, which was one of the main objectives from the original grant.
“The goals of the program are to increase the number of mental health professionals in the districts, across the valley, that we’ll be working with to address the mental health concerns that have increased. Also to be able to provide mental health professionals from diverse backgrounds, that include race, ethnicity, culture, language and those kinds of demographics,” Mannis said.
Ramos is confident that the grant will succeed with their purpose in mind.
“We have a very strong collaboration, we’re all friends, and we all have the same vision, and we have the same goal, and because of that I think we’re going to be very successful with this grant,” Ramos said.
The mental health of students has been a subject of scrutiny in recent years and programs such as this will assist in keeping children mentally sound and healthy.
If you need help with mental health call the national mental health hotline 866-903-3787 or visit the UTRGV Counseling Center
