CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Mental health program begins in local schools this year

Decatur Daily - 8/19/2021

Aug. 19—A mental health program purchased with COVID relief funds is being implemented in Lawrence County and Hartselle City schools this year.

The school systems will use the Rhithm app, which allows students in grades K-12 to check in with counselors and social workers to update them on their emotional and mental state each day.

"This app gives us access to each child every day," said Lawrence County Superintendent Jon Bret Smith. "This is just another step to assist us in making sure we are watching over each and every child."

The app contains over 25 one- to three-minute video lessons designed to address the input from students. All students enrolled in Lawrence County and Hartselle City schools will participate.

Each morning, every student will log on to the app in their homeroom. It will ask them questions about their mood and sleep patterns, and administrators, teachers and mental health workers will be able to see their answers.

The app is designed to provide students with strategies to deal with the problems they identify.

"Based on their choices, we will be able to monitor them more closely," said social worker Allee Kitchens.

Kitchens is the countywide social worker for Lawrence County Schools. She estimates that Rhithm will begin within two weeks.

The federal funding comes from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, signed into law in December, which provided $54.3 billion for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER II fund). The money was distributed among state education agencies, and then allocated to local school districts.

Smith and the school board used $78,000 in ESSER II funds to implement the Rhithm program.

"It's expensive, but you can't put a price tag on mental health," he said.

Hartselle City also used ESSER II funds for the Rhithm program, which Susan Hayes, director of federal programs for the school district, said will begin Sept. 7.

"What we have purchased through the ESSER II funds is access to mental health resources," Hayes said.

Those resources include partnering with American Behavioral in Birmingham, which provides additional services to both students and staff. Hayes said the funds will allow Hartselle City Schools to have access to American Behavioral's resources for three years.

wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.

___

(c)2021 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.)

Visit The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) at www.decaturdaily.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.