Kansas Governor Laura Kelly recently announced that Kansas has received $9 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) https://www.samhsa.gov within HHS to address the behavioral health of nearly 40,000 students in the Southeast Kansas corridor.
The funding will be spread out over five years and will be administered through the Department of Pediatrics at the KU School of Medicine to fund KanAWARE, a coalition of state and nonprofit organizations.
KanAWARE is an expansion of Telehealth Rural Outreach for Children of Kansas (Telehealth ROCKS), an internet-based delivery service model to address health disparities faced by rural children.
With this grant funding, KanAWARE will integrate school-based community health workers into their behavioral health support system to help students and families in need. According to Lynn Nelson, KanAWARE PI, “We have never faced a time of greater student behavioral health needs. Our Telehealth Rocks team and partners are grateful for KanAWARE funding to support behavioral health strategies and to set students up for success now and in the future.”
Other organizations collaborating with this project include the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, Kansas State Department of Education, local education agencies, community-based providers of behavioral health care services, Families Together a child and family advocacy and nonprofit, along with students and their families.
Andy Brown, Behavioral Health Services Commissioner for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, “We are excited to be part of the coalition of agencies working on this grant project to help establish a sustainable infrastructure for promoting behavioral health in schools.”