$148M boost for student mental health
Alberta is investing $148 million in a charitable non-profit that offers mental-health services to students with complex needs.
The investment will expand 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 recovery while continuing their education. There are eight of these classrooms in several communities, including Edmonton, Red Deer and Medicine Hat.
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.
When students require a higher level of care, they are connected with 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 AHS. The location of these institutions hasn't been finalized, but the organization is reportedly poised to build one in Calgary.