Counselors Need Space to Hold Space

We are just over one month into this campaign, and together we have raised $15,000 in donations and pledges. We hosted free mindfulness activities for children at our Fall Festival. We partnered with the Hayward Twin Oaks Montessori Mental Health Department to share local and national mental health and suicide prevention resources. Our messaging reached hundreds of families and we received resounding encouragement from the community for spotlighting this important topic. We even had a special guest visit our booth – Xander & family continue to inspire us.

We are proud to share that Hayward Twin Oaks Montessori School (HTOMS) is prioritizing mental health in a BIG way. They have a Mental Health Department with a mission to promote healthy social, emotional, and behavioral development of students. The Department has a robust team dedicated to the identification, assessment, and assistance of students’ behavioral and social-emotional needs, knowing that mental health and academic learning go hand-in-hand.

HTOMS has a strong and well established Response to Intervention process, that is considered an early intervention tool and is designed to quickly identify students that may need support (academic, behavioral, and mental health).  This approach eliminates a “wait to fail” or “wait for an emergency” situation, and prioritizes integrated proactive student support.

The school’s current mental health service spaces are temporary. The new construction building will feature child and teen-friendly mental health spaces, including a 383 sq ft Wellness Center. We are well on our way to raising the $100,000 needed to build the Wellness Center. Thank you for helping us take action to build a space where connection will occur, stories will be shared, services will be provided, hope will grow, and healthy outcomes will be achieved.