Additional Mental Health Staff When You Need It

At Better Urban Health, we offer schools additional temporary in-school mental health professionals as needed. In most urban, public schools, the number of students in critical need of mental health services far exceed the number of qualified mental health therapists available to help. This year (2023) we attended 10 education conferences in 6 States. In a raw data search, located at a education conference in NYC, using a sample size population of 400 public school district superintendents, deputy superintendents, superintendents, principals and assistant principals; we conducted a systematic sampling thought survey asking each 4th executive that passed our table three questions:

1. In which educational capacity do you work in, are you a district superintendent, deputy superintendent, superintendent, principal or an assistant principal?
2. Is your school located in an economically impoverished community?
3. Are your students primarily students of color? 
4. How many mental health professionals do you have in your school? 
5. How many students do you have in your school? 

We learned that 95% of NYC public schools average one social worker (and maybe a guidance counselor) per 500 children. This means that in urban communities where social determinants of health are at its lowest, e.g.: community decay, violence, poor food choices, dysfunctional households, etc. a school that has 1,000 to 1,500 students, may have 3 social workers, 1 guidance counselors and no idea whether students have a primary care physician or ANY healthcare support outside of school.  If you are a district superintendent, deputy superintendent, superintendent, principal or assistant principal of a K-12 school and need additional in-school mental health support staff, contact us today. We can help.