The Livingston Parish School system is offering its high school students struggling with anxiety, depression or any mental illness 12 weeks of free teletherapy through a program called Daybreak. Federal Program Coordinator at Livingston Schools, Charlene Lilly, says they are the first school district in the state to offer free mental health support for students.
“There’s been some hurdles here for our kids that we’ve noticed and having some of our large high schools where we have two thousand kids and four counselors they’re inundated with mental health needs. So this was kind of the solution to the perfect storm.”
Students can enroll by scanning a QR code or reaching out to their school counselors. Parental consent is required before Daybreak can connect students with a licensed counselor.
Lilly says the program gives the students what they need at their leisure at no cost.
“They all have one to one devices in our high schools. And so they have the capability to do the telehealth. We can provide a space for it to happen at school. It can happen in the evening hours and even on Saturday.”
Lilly says 62 percent of students in Louisiana who had mental depression didn’t receive any care over the last two years. She believes Daybreak will have a positive impact on the students and help to fill a gap.
“Anxiety and depression are the two things we see mostly in our school system and Daybreak is perfect for that. And so getting the kids signed up with it, really Daybreak takes that hurdle off of our backs and it’s all digital.”
Lilly says instead of being placed on a waiting list for six months to see a private doctor, through the Daybreak program, students will begin their first session in one to two weeks.
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