DCC will use grant for kids’ mental health – The Cambridge News

A newly-awarded Dane County grant is going to allow the Deerfield Community Center to add mental health programming for children.

Dane County Executive Joe Parisi announced on Aug. 5 that DCC was one of five community centers in the county that would receive a grant.

By meeting children where they already gather, Dane County and its partners hope to bring important services straight to youth in a place they already feel comfortable, Parisi said in a release.

Schwenn said DCC will receive $25,000 through the end of 2020, with another $50,000 possible in 2021 pending the Dane County Boards approval later this fall of its annual budget.

Schwenn said the money will be used in partnership with Catholic Charities of Madison, whom she said has a long history of providing mental health services in area school districts.

Schwenn said she wants to be very clear that most of that money, is passing through DCC to Catholic Charities.

We are acting as the fiscal agent between Dane County and the agency that is going to be providing behavioral health and referral services, she said.

The person would be employed by Catholic Charities and contracted with DCC.

On its website, Catholic Charities of Madison says its work is broad-based.

We have been serving individuals and families in the Diocese of Madison since 1946. With over 25 programs in 11 counties in southern Wisconsin, our programs help seniors, those living with a disability, individual and family counseling, mobile food pantries in rural communities, addiction treatment, those experiencing homelessness, and more, the website says.

Schwenn said that Catholic Charities currently has mental health programming contracts with nearly a dozen area school districts was a major selling point.

And she said the organization is really excited to start working beyond school districts, in the community. This was really appealing to them.

The funds will pay a mental health specialist from Catholic Charities of Madison to come to Deerfield for about 15 hours a week, tentatively beginning Oct. 1, Schwenn said.

The vision is to offer group-based mental health programming for elementary-school-aged children through sixth-grade. Normally, that would happen during after -chool programs at Deerfield Elementary School and the community center building on Liberty Street, Schwenn said.

It just makes a lot of sense with the programs were already offering, Schwenn said.

With Deerfield schools starting virtually in September due to the coronavirus pandemic, Schwenn said she envisions DCC, Catholic Charities and the Deerfield school district together creatively exploring ways to reach local children, online if needed, with programming. She said the hope would be to start in the fall, as soon as possible.

She said there are also opportunities for periodic educational-focused mental health programming for groups of community members.

Schwenn said the focus will definitely be more on education than on individual case management, the latter of which may be limited to referring individual children with mental health needs to other specialists.

Catholic Charities will have an office at DCC, where it could meet with children and families if needed, Schwenn said, but I think our goal is generally going to be helping kids develop social and emotional skills, by embedding the Catholic Charities staffer into existing after-school settings, she said.

Schwenn said time is of the essence. Research has shown that mental health needs tend to peak about six month into a crisis, where the coronavirus pandemic is now, she said.

I just think its so needed right now, Schwenn said. And, she said, I think the longer children are learning remotely the more important these services are going to be.

Schwenn also said it will be imporant to coordinate with the Deerfield schools so as to not duplicate mental health services it already provides.

The Deerfield School District has a lot of great services already, she said.

Schwenn said Catholic Charities first task will likely be to assess the communitys needs and existing offerings, and to examine how they could work with DCC and the school staff, she said.

Schwenn also said theres potential to tap Catholic Charities to reach out to DCC food pantry users who have children.

We are absolutely going to utilize that opportunity, if it arises, Schwenn said.

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DCC will use grant for kids' mental health - The Cambridge News