A children’s hospital working to provide free mental health resources to schools across Illinois, including Matteson’s Marya Yates Elementary School, celebrated a $100,000 grant Friday that will help it train more teachers and administrators to better support students.
The first iteration of Lurie Children’s Hospital’s Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois program launched in the wake of COVID-19 in 2021, and its tools are now used within 800 schools across 82 counties. Program director Mashana Smith, who is also a clinical-community psychologist, said she expects an even higher demand for the resources as districts prepare to implement mandated student mental health screenings for the 2027-2028 school year.
“I think the introduction of the mandate, while there may be some anxiety around it, ultimately is going to be able to provide really positive leverage for us being able to engage in early identification and early intervention for students,” Smith said.
These are already priorities at Marya Yates Elementary, according to the school’s principal, Amber Henderson. Henderson said while student screenings at Marya Yates are not mental health specific, the school provides support to students depending on their responses.
“Like emotional regulation, grit, et cetera,” she said.
Henderson said Elementary School District 159 this school year hired teams of behavioral health practitioners “to ensure that our students truly feel valued, seen heard.”
She said Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois’ survey, which assesses schools’ handling of topics including mental health, social and emotional learning, and trauma-responsive, healing-centered practices, was particularly helpful in developing a plan to address classroom behavior issues.
“It helps to have frameworks. It helps to have research and evidence as to why this shift happens, instead of just school leadership saying, we’re going to do this, because this is what we want you to do,” Henderson said.
The Marya Yates Elementary School library. (Olivia Stevens/Daily Southtown)
While districts that take part in the survey receive more tailored feedback, Smith stressed anyone can access Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois’ online courses and mental health resources. As the 2027-2028 school year approaches, she said more information will be available to help schools to begin providing the state required mental health screenings.
“Thinking about your consent process, thinking about communication to parents, thinking about tool selection,” Smith said.
The $100,000 grant, provided by Molina Healthcare’s MolinaCares Accord, will help with that process, allowing Lurie Children’s Hospital to bring its resources to more school communities.
Smith said she hopes to be able to study the long-term impacts of Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois’ implementation on student well-being. So far, data collected from participating schools has found they benefited from higher teacher retention and less exclusionary discipline and chronic absenteeism among students, Smith said.
State Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin, D-Matteson, expresses support for school mental health initiatives Friday at Marya Yates Elementary School in Matteson. (Olivia Stevens/Daily Southtown)
State Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin, D-Matteson, expressed her support for both Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois and the state mandated student mental health screenings Friday. She said there is new awareness in the Illinois House surrounding the importance of mental health related legislation and hopes to continue investing in preventative resources.
“Mental health almost permeates every aspect of life, so we are a wiser society if we begin to address those issues seriously and effectively and in a timely way,” she said.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com