A $30,000 mental health grant is on its way to three San Luis Obispo County high schools. It would implement services like counseling and mental health education.
Paso Robles, Nipomo and San Luis Obispo High Schools received the one-year grant to create or expand campus wellness centers. The grant lets students from each campus decide how to improve the services.
Megan Frauenheim is a coordinator for the SLO County Friday Night Live Partnership, the group that chose which schools received the funding.
“There's no one thing that's going to fix everything, right, but we're hoping to make a small difference,” Frauenheim said. “And I'm proud of that we're able to involve the students that are being served by the work that we're doing in that decision-making process.”
The county’s Friday Night Live Partnership is part of a statewide youth development organization. It focuses mainly on substance use prevention and mental health awareness. In San Luis Obispo County, 12 middle schools and nine high schools have a club or chapter.
Frauenheim said that not all of the schools in the district have wellness centers for students. Some, like San Luis Obispo High School, are in the beginning stages of developing a center. Meanwhile, Nipomo High School currently doesn’t have one.
“It's becoming so much more accepted to get help, to get support but they're still just such a need for students to receive services,” Frauenheim said.
She hopes the funding provides permanent mental health support in the schools. Work on the wellness centers is starting this month.
