Mental Health Care Services Get United Help

Mental health care services get United help

By Kara Patterson

Post-Crescent Media

United Way Fox Cities is continuing to champion increased access to mental health services for the community by awarding two significant grants to initiatives that help children and teenagers.

The agency has allocated a $100,000 grant to Catalpa Health, a joint venture of Affinity Health System, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and ThedaCare that opened in November. The group provides outpatient mental health services specifically for young people.

“I often say Catalpa Health is an organization that supports the entire community and is supported by the entire community,” Lisa Kogan-Praska, president and CEO of Catalpa Health, said Tuesday. “The United Way grant echoes that, and allows us to deliver the right care at the right time, close to home.”

With a $23,000 United Way grant, the Appleton Area School District plans to start screening freshmen for mental illnesses in a voluntary process using the survey tool TeenScreen. Appleton East and North high schools intend to hold their screenings in spring. Appleton West High School plans to conduct its screenings in fall.

“This grant allows us to begin this initiative,” said Val Dreier, the school district’s assistant superintendent of school/student services. “Our intent is really to look at the whole child and their physical health, their mental well-being, and to make sure that services are available to our students; that there is greater opportunity for these students to be identified and receive help that they might not otherwise ask for.”

United Way president and CEO Peter Kelly announced the grants during United Way’s 2012 Annual Report to the Community on Tuesday at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in downtown Appleton.

“United Way Fox Cities is committed to dealing with mental health issues,” Kelly said. “We recognize that there are many great organizations working hard to improve the mental health of our neighbors. I’m really proud of what this community is doing around mental illness.”

Kelly said when United Way Fox Cities invests in initiatives that concentrate on youth mental health, the agency and its partners can help create lasting change in the lives of young people and in the community.

Through the 2006 Leading Indicators for Excellence (LIFE) study — a comprehensive community report card on quality-of-life issues — United Way learned that a quarter of all 10th-graders said they experienced depression, and 14 percent had attempted suicide in the previous year.

In response, the agency in 2008 launched Providing Access to Healing (PATH) for Students, a school-based mental health therapy program. The program now involves 10 Fox Valley school districts.

In 2012 United Way Fox Cities designated mental health, including education about mental health and access to and delivery of mental health services, as one of its four priority issues.

Kogan-Praska said the United Way grant will help Catalpa Health work to increase access to mental health care for youth and their families.

“Our goal is to double the number of clients we can see over the next five years, and to increase access this year by 20 percent,” Kogan-Praska said. “The United Way funds will go a long way in helping us meet those goals.”

Three other priority issues that United Way Fox Cities identified last year:

» Provide parent education, prevention, intervention and support services to strengthen families and reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect.

» Ensure children enter kindergarten developmentally on track in terms of literacy, social, emotional and cognitive skills.

» Improve employment and workforce readiness skills to increase individual and family self-sufficiency. — Kara Patterson: 920-993-1000, ext. 215, or [email protected]; on Twitter @ArtsMinded

Recognitions and awards » Individuals nominated to United Way Fox Cities’ board of directors: Jackie Hintz; Jeff Lonigro; Tim Olson; Sabrina Robins; Chuck Shephard; Mark Westphal; Tom Palmer; Dan Neufelder; Mary Pfeiffer; Bonnie Timm » Retiring members of United Way Fox Cities’ board of directors: Jim Bemowski; Tim Higgins; Tom Palmer; Jenny Redman-Schell; Jim Totzke » Recipients of United Way Fox Cities’ Wes Urch Volunteer Service Award: Julie Wulterkens and Linda Mueller