CEO Corner with Dr. Celine Coggins
TGW Awards $2.05M in New Grants
The Goodness Web is pleased to announce $2.05M in new grant awards focused on school-based mental health and advancing policy change.
- The Rural Behavioral Health Institute (RHBI) was awarded a new grant of $900,000 over three years to ensure school-based mental health access in rural communities.
- Our Minds Matter was awarded a new grant of $750,000 over three years to advance youth leadership in mental health support.
- Inseparable was awarded a renewal grant of $400,000 for one year to expand its work to change state policy to advance mental health access and care.
Continue reading to learn the details of RBHI’s approach and impact to date. We will profile Our Mind Matter in our July newsletter.
The Rural Behavioral Health Institute (RBHI) builds comprehensive school-based mental health systems designed to prevent youth suicide and improve mental health outcomes, particularly in rural and under-resourced communities. RBHI's flagship program, Screening Linked to Care (SLTC), combines universal mental health screening, same-day intervention for high-risk students, and follow-up care navigation and support. By screening all students rather than only those already identified as struggling, RBHI is able to identify youth experiencing suicidality and other mental health concerns who might otherwise never seek help. RBHI delivers services through a telehealth model that helps overcome provider shortages, geographic barriers, and stigma while making the program scalable across schools and states.
In their first few years, RBHI has already screened over 72,000 students and provided over 4,700 identified for suicide risk with care. Students participating multiple times in their screening linked to care model experienced:
- More than 3-fold reductions in recent suicidality
- 29%+ reductions in severe depression and anxiety symptoms
We are excited to support RBHI as it scales from Montana to other rural areas across the United States.
