The nonprofit has an opportunity to tell the story of how the organization adapted to tremendous external changes in the last year.
As the COVID-19 crisis forced much of the United States to shut down, the Child Mind Institute mobilized rapidly to pivot in all mission areas. Our clinics in NYC and the San Francisco Bay Area converted patients to telehealth, our editorial staff produced new content on COVID-19 and mental health, our researchers developed tools and technologies to garner information that will lead to more effective interventions, and our school and community programs responded to increased anxiety, grief and loss in school communities.
Now, two years into the pandemic, not only has a “new normal” been adopted but the stigma around mental health has begun to recede. Open conversation is increasingly common. But receding stigma has revealed another problem. When families reach out for help, they often find that there is no one there to answer the call. We are meeting the need with far-reaching programs that scale solutions for societal impact.
While we have since reopened our doors to in-person patients, we continue to offer telehealth services which allows us to reach more patients. In 2021, we delivered evidence-based care to nearly 4,500 children and adolescents from our clinical centers, completed 4,700 mental health and learning evaluations, and provided $580,000 in financial aid to families. We are providing services both in person and remotely to ensure our patients’ safety.
The 2021-22 academic year has been one of transition, and the need for mental health support was great. Despite these challenges, our team reached over 5,200 students, parents, and educators through mental health supports and workshops this school year and trained more than 560 educators and school staff to deliver our mental health interventions independently. Because we digitally converted all of our trainings for educators and school mental health professionals at the start of the pandemic, we can seamlessly offer trainings remotely, as needed, to school communities across the country.