GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - It's the last day of school for Grand Rapids Public Schools, but officials are already looking to next year.
Starting up in the fall, there will be new systems in place to help kids better address their mental health and get the help they need.
The program will place a licensed behavioral health provider in three GRPS schools that currently don't have mental health services available to students, including Alger Middle School, Riverside Middle School and City High-Middle School.
"We know that our youth are struggling with their mental health, and this is going to give them a caring, skilled clinician in their building to walk alongside them through their daily challenges or crisis situations," says Kim Baron, Director of School Health Services.
"The state is working hard to identify funding sources for this grant to continue beyond this first grant cycle and to hopefully expand to more districts and more buildings in districts already receiving funds. This is an exciting time for GRPS, and we are so glad to be able to offer critical mental health services to our students."
Each school will receive $100,000 for the program -- the funds will be available to districts as early as June 1, 2019.
GRPS is working on job postings, so the new staff members will be in place when school picks back up in August.
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