First of its kind collaboration to bring mental healthcare facility to Southside ISD
A new partnership between Southside Independent School District and Clarity Child Guidance Center aims to bring mental healthcare resources to students in south Bexar County.
"No psychiatrists that we could identify that really service those zip codes in the south side area," said Jessica Knudsen, President of Clarity Child Guidance Center when explaining how underserved south Bexar County is when it comes to mental healthcare.
Clarity Child Guidance Center said the partnership with Southside ISD will bring mental healthcare to all students within the school district's boundaries.
Southside ISD tells us that help is long overdue for families in the area.
"It is very very difficult for our students in our community and our families to access mental health. Really, there's no access," said Miguel Castillo, Assistant Superintendent of Southside Independent School District.
How will that partnership work? Clarity Child Guidance Center will repurpose a building on Southside ISD's largest campus to serve as a mental healthcare facility for students.
"It is not going to cost the district anything, a part of our arrangement with them is we're actually renting the space so it will be a free-standing clinic just housed in one of their buildings," said Knudsen.
Castillo said the resourceful partnership will help students have a brighter future.
"We're the first ones here in Bexar County to implement this innovative programming where we're not only trying to meet the needs of the academics for our students but we're also going to be meeting the needs for the mental health part of their overall wellbeing," said Castillo.
Knudsen said the community will also notice immediate impacts.
"We're not only touching the lives of the kids, but we do a lot of family therapy with the kids we work with so it's giving parents tools and the fact that we're going to be embedded there on campus, we're a resource to the school also if they're having some challenges," said Knudsen.
If the first-of-its-kind collaboration works, Clarity Child Guidance Center said it will try to implement similar models in other parts of Bexar County.
