June 2022

In May we celebrated Mental Health Awareness month and were faced with an unspeakable national tragedy. The shooting in Uvalde, Texas was traumatic and left a particularly painful imprint on those who are a daily part of a school community. In the grieving, we could find ourselves giving up. However, we strive to recommit to provide high-quality, equitable, well-funded, and impactful mental health and wellness services for all members of school communities.

This will be our final newsletter of the 2021-2022 school year and we are grateful that through the struggles, the unknowns and the anxieties, we saw enormous growth, healing, and resilience in our communities. Easily overshadowed by the daily traumas in the news, children, families, and community members remain hopeful and resilient. However, we must not be complacent. This Juneteenth we are reminded of the need to work towards justice and liberation.

This issue is dedicated to building hope as we advocate for healing, change and equity. We wish all of you a summer of peace, relaxation, and refocusing on a path to resilience and joy. 

A heartfelt thank you to the DC Council and the Strengthening Families Collaborative for their support and advocacy to ensure the School Based Behavioral Health Expansion in Washington, DC received increased funds to meet the needs of our provider organizations that support school communities. You are our heroes!

Each year, Mary’s Center's SBMH Program honors everyday School Mental Health Champions that make exceptional contributions to the mental health and wellness of children and families. These individuals are championed for their dedication to making students and families feel heard and loved.

Here are our winners for 2022 with photos of the celebrations:

 Melissa Wade, KIPP DC Charter Schools

Sandra Montgomery, Barnard Elementary School

Katie Green, DC International School

Kristen Paonessa, KIPP DC Northeast

Shannon Reilly and Mariel Vallano, MacFarland Middle School

 Yanira Cuellar, Capital City Public Charter School

Anny Delossantos, Cleveland Elementary School

Melissa Wade

KIPP DC Charter Schools

Yanira Cuellar

Capital City Public Charter School

Katie Green

DC International School

Kristen Paonessa

KIPP DC Northeast

Shannon Reilly and Mariel Vallano

MacFarland Middle School

Anny Delossantos

Cleveland Elementary School

Sandra Montgomery

Barnard Elementary School

You are our 2022 Mary’s Center School Mental Health Champions!

We Celebrate YOU!

DC Stakeholder Learning Community

Launched in 2018 by the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS) in partnership with the Bainum Family Foundation, the DC Stakeholder Learning Community (SLC) brings together local school-based and child behavioral health stakeholders to strengthen the DC school behavioral health system and enhance equity. 

Mary’s Center SBMH Program has been an active member since its inception. Learn more in their 2022 report.

Each month we share tips with our students, caregivers, and school staff on relevant mental health topics. See below for a link to our website that features our topics of the 2021-2022 school year. May’s topic was mental health awareness and June’s topic is transitioning to summer. 

SBMH Activities

• The MacFarland Middle School Wellness Team supported an afterschool club where students created the bulletin board pictured above in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month!
• Students participated in numerous groups this spring to include: support for newcomers to the US, healing from grief and loss, social skill development, emotional regulation for boys, and art- and movement-based coping skills.
• Co-development of a student run organization called Sexual Harassment/Assault awareness club for students to take the lead in bringing resources and attention to this important issue – a great empowerment strategy for students that builds peer support networks at DCI Public Charter School
• Mindful Monday activity for third graders at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School
• Restorative Circles for third graders and suicide prevention workshops for teachers at Cleveland ES
• Teacher Wellness activities to include taking “A Self Care Inventory”
• SBMH Director Marisa Parrella published a blog for the National Association of Community Health Center on the impact of Covid on children’s mental health: Children's Mental Health is a National Emergency

Transition Announcement from Marisa

It is with great excitement and humility that I share an exciting new project that I will be launching here at Mary's Center in the coming weeks.

With the support of a planning grant from Ed Forward, I will be initiating the development of a BIPOC Post Graduate Fellowship Training Program in School Mental Health with a launch goal of fall of 2023. Learn more about the program here.

I will be stepping down from directing the School Based Mental Health Program but will continue my work at Mary's Center with the goal of not only building our internal workforce, but also supporting a model that will increase the capacity of the behavioral health workforce in Washington, DC. The privilege of leading this team has been incredibly humbling and rewarding and I am confident that Vanessa Leon and Lindsay Eidman, long-term SBMH team members and associate directors, will support a smooth transition until the new director takes the helm. I look forward to working closely with the new leadership to integrate our first year of fellows into our school-based work.

See the job posting for the new Director of School Based Mental Health here, and please share with anyone who may be interested.

In our last newsletter we highlighted Vanessa Leon, our newest Associate Director of Clinical Services. She will now be joined by Lindsay Eidman, the Associate Director of Prevention, Early Intervention, and Integration.

Get to Know Lindsay Eidman

Lindsay is excited to support the SBMH team in her new role as the Associate Director of Prevention, Early Intervention, and Integration. Lindsay started at Mary's Center in 2016 as a School Based Mental Health Therapist working at a DCPS middle school, and after transitioned into a supervisor role as Senior Clinical Manager. Lindsay is ready to continue her work with Mary's Center by exploring how our team can expand on our Tier 1 and 2 initiatives in schools and supporting more connections to internal and external resources.

SBMH Year in Review

We are pleased to present our SBMH Year in review!

Here are a few highlights:

• 1,311 students and families accessed school-based therapeutic and/or community support services
• SBMH staff conducted 563 Diagnostic Assessments
• The average episode of SBMH care lasted 307 days

Happy Summer!!

Bulletin Board by SBMH team at MacFarland HS, Monica Vallarino, Simone Morgan, and Leidys Gutierrez