Mental health non-profit expands with $148M boost
Alberta is investing $148 million in a charitable non-profit that offers mental-health services to students with complex psychological and psychiatric needs.
The investment will expand the operations of the Child and Adolescent Services Association (CASA) to southern Alberta, where in addition to specialty services such as in-school and family support, the organization will host students dealing with severe psychological issues in live-in treatment facilities.
CASA'S services, mainly offered in northern and central Alberta, fall into three categories: CASA classrooms, CASA houses and specialty services.
In schools, students can seek individual therapy, group therapy and psychiatric care to support their recovery while continuing their education. There are eight of these classrooms in several communities, including Edmonton, Red Deer and Medicine Hat.
Bonnie Blakley, CEO of CASA, said each classroom, which runs twice a year, hosts 12 students selected through referrals from health-care professionals between grades 4 and 12. Two of these classrooms will be made available in Calgary in September.
“A child that would normally get that type of classroom service is a child who already has had some interaction with the health system, maybe had a little bit of therapy, or maybe has been with their family physician who sees that they need a higher level of care,” said Blakley.
Sometimes, she added, students are referred to services in the community. When students require a higher level of care, they are connected with medical support or are enrolled in what the organization calls CASA Houses.
These are semi-locked facilities where children with severe mental illness are voluntarily enrolled by their parents following a referral from Alberta Health Services.
“They might have a mental-health issue and an addiction, or mental-health issue and an eating disorder. And they require long-term programming where they stay overnight,” Blakley said.
She added the students, who live in these facilities for a semester term, are sent to school during the day and brought back to the institution. “We follow those kids for almost two months once they leave us back into their communities.”
The location of these institutions hasn't been finalized, but Blakley said the organization is poised to build one in Calgary.
CASA also provides programs for students suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and various attachment issues.
Of the $148 million to be spent by the Alberta government, $40 million will go toward tripling the number of CASA classrooms, $98 million will be used to build and operate three CASA houses and expand services at the existing CASA house, and $10 million will expand specialty services.