Photo: Sewcream / iStock / Getty Images
(Des Moines, IA) -- The Iowa Department of Health is providing a $2.25 million to fund the Pediatric Mental Healthcare Access Program.
Experts with the University of Iowa Healthcare in collaboration with colleagues in the UI College of Education as well as primary care and mental health providers around the state, are hoping it gets Iowa students the help they need.
The grant is a three-year renewal from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services and will fund the program.
Linn Marr High School Counselor Jessica Deahl speaking to Iowa's News Now says "The need is greater than the number of therapists that we have in and outside of school. So I think it's really important to have access to funds to be able to expand those services and meet the needs of more kids."
University of Iowa Healthcare says the money comes at a time when 1-in-10 Iowa high schools students have attempted suicide.