Two schools in West Philadelphia soon will gain therapists to help students with mental health issues as part of an expanding program that was tested at Girard College over the last three years. 

The program places clinicians from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at schools to provide therapy during the day to students struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and behavioral issues. It is being expanded to include Add B. Anderson School, which has about 400 K-8 students, and Hardy B. Williams Mastery Charter School, which has about 575 elementary students. 

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“This is an issue of equity,” Debora Carrera, the city’s chief education officer, said Thursday during a summit at the School District of Philadelphia’s headquarters. “There are far too many children in our city that are dealing with mental health issues and they are not receiving care.”

Fewer than 30% of children in the United States with a significant mental health condition receive the care they need, according to data cited by the school district and CHOP representatives. Although Philadelphia schools have intensive behavioral health services, counselors and relationships with community health agencies, parents often face difficulties accessing care within their insurance networks and frequently encounter long wait times to get their kids in therapy.

The school-based, mental health program was introduced at Girard College, an independent boarding school in North Philly, in 2021 as a way to offer students a secondary space to talk about the issues affecting them at home, in school and among their peers. Therapists have been available to about 300 students in grades 1-12. The students have been able to seek help within the structure of the school day, making it more likely that they get therapy on a regular basis.

“What we want for children is we want them to thrive. We want them to reach their full potential,” said Tami Benton, chair of CHOP’s child and adolescent psychiatry unit. “Prevention is key to that and prevention is not necessarily complicated. … One of the beauties of this project at Girard College is that a core team is supported in developing the skills they need to be able to take care of the kids they work with every day.”

At Girard College, teachers feel better equipped to recognize concerning behaviors, said Jermaine Dawson, the school district’s deputy superintendent of academic services. When they make student referrals, about 86% of students evaluated are then seen for therapy and 25% receive medication for treatment.

About two-thirds of the Girard College students who used the services said the treatment they received helped them feel better, including 60% of students with anxiety and 75% of students with depression. Teachers reported that students visiting CHOP’s care team also improved academic and behavioral outcomes.

“Having a program like this … will give our students the tools and the places to go to know that there is someone in close proximity to me that will be a help to me — and not only me, but also for my family as well,” Dawson said.

Focusing on the emotional development of school children often uncovers challenges that students and families struggle to identify themselves.

“We have people growing up not knowing that they have mental health issues,” said state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams (D-Philadelphia), whose parents each held ties to the schools where the program is being expanded.

The program has been supported by $1.9 million from Independence Blue Cross Foundation, whose leaders believe it is a model that could be successful elsewhere in the city if more public resources are dedicated. In the state budget this year, lawmakers approved $100 million in grants available for school mental health and security programs.

“As proud as I am of our IBC Foundation, we can’t do it alone,” said Steve Fera, executive vice president of public affairs at Independence Blue Cross. “As great as CHOP is — can’t do it alone … We need public-private partnership to accelerate this. What this expansion does is give us a bigger mountaintop to shout from.”

School-based, mental health services offer a proactive approach to meeting kids in a place that’s already formative to their development, advocates say. Many of the challenges facing students were present before the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have since been magnified by the disruptions the crisis caused academically, socially and at home. Children transitioning into school and college have been among the hardest-hit.

“The pandemic actually caused a whole lot of problems and I don’t think we’ve seen the end of that,” Benton said.

The pressures of social media have been starkly highlighted by the U.S. Surgeon General, who has warned of youth isolation and unrealistic expectations formed out of excessive exposure to online influences. Benton said the problem is not just the apps, but the lack of adult support to help kids place the things they see on social media in perspective — both the good and the bad.

“Unless you’re going to start taking away your kids’ cell phones and their computer access, we’re going to have to find a way to manage it,” she said. “I think that’s going to have to be one of our focuses — protecting young people and managing their use.”

Benton and Dawson said the CHOP program also can be a supportive structure for teachers, who often struggle to address the problems in their students’ lives and are burdened by mental health concerns of their own that can be felt in classrooms.