• Signup for Email
  • About Children’s Home & Aid
    • Mission & Vision
    • Meet Our Leadership Team
      • Mike Shaver
      • Jan Stepto-Millett
      • Angelica Stapert
      • Sean Soun
      • Paula Corrigan-Halpern
      • Sara Irmen
      • Dawnielle Jeffrey
      • Lynsey Sloan
      • Mendy Smith
      • Renae Storey
      • Amanda Whitlock
    • Board of Trustees
    • License & Accreditation
    • Mission & Vision
    • Financial Information
    • Client Policy and Rights
  • Get Involved
    • Join an Auxiliary Board
      • Join the Young Professionals Board
        • Membership Request Form
      • Hinsdale Auxiliary
      • Lost Dunes Golf Committee
      • Rice Leadership Committee
      • The Woman’s Board
      • Central Regional Advisory Board
      • Northern Regional Advisory Board
      • Southern Regional Advisory Board
    • Attend or Sponsor an Event
    • Get Your Company Involved
    • Volunteer
      • Volunteer Chicagoland
      • Volunteer Central
      • Volunteer Northern
      • Volunteer Southern
  • Ways to Give
    • Make a Donation
    • Double Your Impact – Matching Gifts
    • Become a Monthly Donor
    • Planned Giving
    • Make a Gift of Stock
    • Give Through Your IRA
    • Children’s Home & Aid Legacy Society
    • Attend or Sponsor an Event
    • Get Your Company Involved
    • Shop Amazon Smile
    • See Your Impact
    • Create Your Own Fundraising Event
  • Policy Center
    • Advocacy
    • Start to Finish Coalition
    • Youth Budget Commission
    • Our Projects
    • The Ahlquist Agenda Podcast
    • Result of the Quarter
    • Get our Newsletter!
  • Events
  • Blog & News
  • Locations
  • Careers
  • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
    • Equity, Diversion and Inclusion Resources
    • Black History Month 2022
      • Black History Month 2021
    • Self-Care After the Election
    • Hispanic Heritage Month
    • Native American Heritage Month
    • Women’s History Month
    • Juneteenth
    • Pride Month
Children's Home + Aid
Donate
  • DONATE NOW
  • Child Welfare
    Services
    • Intact Family Services
    •  Foster Care
      Services
      • Become a Foster Parent
        • Learn More – Informational Meetings
      • Foster Parent Resources
      • Excellence Academy
      • Specialized Foster Care
    •  Foster to
      Adopt
      • Become an Adoptive Parent
      • Adoption & Guardianship Preservation
      • Adoption Information Request
      • Adoption Resources
      • The PEPAC Program
      • Post-Adoption Services Program
  •  Counseling &
    Treatment Programs
    • Adoption Support & Preservation
    • Choose 2 Change
    • Community Based Behavioral Health
    • Families And Children in Treatment
    • Family Centered Counseling Services
    • Family Solutions
    • Chicago Project Connect
    • Helping Children Heal Through Extensive Therapy
      • The Rice Center
    • The Butterfly Project
    • Family Counseling for Youth in Crisis
      • Redeploy Illinois Children Program
      • Youth Services
      • Host Home Placement
  • Parenting
    • The Butterfly Project
    • The Children’s Room
    • The Crisis Nursery Program
      • Motherhouse Crisis Nursery
      • Bloomington Crisis Nursery
    • Early Start
    • Family Visitation Center
    • Healthy Families Illinois
    • Doula Services
    • Kid’s Turn
    • Parents Care & Share
    • The PEPAC Program
    • Stronger Beginnings for Families
    • Thriving Fathers & Families
  •  Child Care
    & Education
    • Community Child Care Centers
      • Bloomington
      • Carpentersville
      • Englewood
      • Palatine
      • Schaumburg
      • Viva Chicago
    • Early Head Start
    • The Head Start Program
    • Preschool For All
    • Child Care Assistance Program
      • CCAP Request Form
    • Child Care Resource and Referral
      • Southern Region
        • Looking for Child Care
        • Parent Resources
        • Provider Services
        • Statistical Information
        • Training Opportunities
        • CCR&R Staff Directory
  • Contact Us
  • Signup for Email
  • About Children’s Home & Aid
    • Mission & Vision
    • Meet Our Leadership Team
      • Mike Shaver
      • Jan Stepto-Millett
      • Angelica Stapert
      • Sean Soun
      • Paula Corrigan-Halpern
      • Sara Irmen
      • Dawnielle Jeffrey
      • Lynsey Sloan
      • Mendy Smith
      • Renae Storey
      • Amanda Whitlock
    • Board of Trustees
    • License & Accreditation
    • Mission & Vision
    • Financial Information
    • Client Policy and Rights
  • Get Involved
    • Join an Auxiliary Board
      • Join the Young Professionals Board
        • Membership Request Form
      • Hinsdale Auxiliary
      • Lost Dunes Golf Committee
      • Rice Leadership Committee
      • The Woman’s Board
      • Central Regional Advisory Board
      • Northern Regional Advisory Board
      • Southern Regional Advisory Board
    • Attend or Sponsor an Event
    • Get Your Company Involved
    • Volunteer
      • Volunteer Chicagoland
      • Volunteer Central
      • Volunteer Northern
      • Volunteer Southern
  • Ways to Give
    • Make a Donation
    • Double Your Impact – Matching Gifts
    • Become a Monthly Donor
    • Planned Giving
    • Make a Gift of Stock
    • Give Through Your IRA
    • Children’s Home & Aid Legacy Society
    • Attend or Sponsor an Event
    • Get Your Company Involved
    • Shop Amazon Smile
    • See Your Impact
    • Create Your Own Fundraising Event
  • Policy Center
    • Advocacy
    • Start to Finish Coalition
    • Youth Budget Commission
    • Our Projects
    • The Ahlquist Agenda Podcast
    • Result of the Quarter
    • Get our Newsletter!
  • Events
  • Blog & News
  • Locations
  • Careers
  • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
    • Equity, Diversion and Inclusion Resources
    • Black History Month 2022
      • Black History Month 2021
    • Self-Care After the Election
    • Hispanic Heritage Month
    • Native American Heritage Month
    • Women’s History Month
    • Juneteenth
    • Pride Month
Return to all blog and news posts

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month

by Sara Krueger
5/25/2022  |  Mental Health

How We’re Supporting Schoolchildren’s Mental Health  

May is a time to raise awareness, reduce stigma, share resources, and advocate for policies that support people living with mental illness and their families. This year’s theme of “Together for Mental Health,” has a strong connection to how we approach our work in the community. At Children’s Home & Aid, we embrace trauma-informed, prevention-focused solutions that center on child and family well-being.  

You can see these values in action at Schubert Elementary School, a Chicago Public School with 600 students, ages 5-13, where one of our therapists, Alex Martinez, offers counseling for kids who may be struggling in school or at home with mental health challenges. 

“Children are so relieved to have someone to talk to, who won’t judge them but who wants to help.” 

Alex Martinez, bilingual school therapist, Children’s Home & Aid 

Alex sees an average of 20 children and their families each week. “When kids first come to see me, they don’t know me, they are nervous and unsure of what to expect,” Alex explains. “I use games, art activities, even magic tricks to get them to connect and feel at ease. Once they start trusting me it just flows. They’ve been holding in so much.”

Alex is a particularly important asset to the team because he is bilingual, and many of the families at Schubert speak Spanish in their home. He has often found that he is able to develop a special connection with families because of his background. “I relate to many of the families I see at Schubert because my parents also came to this country as immigrants, with a sixth-grade education, and still speak Spanish at home.” Alex reflects.  

“I’m able to empower parents and children and say, ‘You don’t have to struggle, it’s ok to see a therapist and ask for help.” 

Alex Martinez, bilingual school therapist, Children’s Home & Aid  

The need for children’s mental health services has grown exponentially since the pandemic. Children’s behavior at school often reflects the stress they are experiencing at home, with families facing overwhelming financial stress, and the grief of losing friends and relatives to COVID-19. “We have seen a huge increase in the number of families seeking help in the last year,” says Diane Buitron, supervisor of the school-based program. “We will never turn anyone away. We’re there to do anything we can to stabilize the family. It’s all about prevention.” 

 

Alex agrees with Diane that the families he serves are facing tremendous financial pressures, especially now. In addition to providing therapy, he often connects children and their families to practical support such as food pantries, rental assistance, job training, and domestic violence services. “Sometimes parents may be unfamiliar with the ins and outs of accessing assistance,” Alex shares. “I’m able to listen as they describe the barriers they are facing and then link parents to the support they need.” 

Alex recounts a story of one little girl who was referred to him because she was struggling in school, frequently breaking down in tears in class. After meeting with her, Alex learned that her family was facing eviction, and the young girl was witnessing her mom in distress as she tried to deal with the prospect of becoming homeless. “I was able to meet with mom and connect her to rent assistance services. She needed a job, and it turned out there was an opening for a lunch assistant in the school, so I helped her apply for the job,” Alex says.  

“If we can address the basic problems parents encounter, it helps both the children and the family.”  

Alex Martinez, bilingual school therapist, Children’s Home & Aid 

Over 90 percent of Schubert students currently live in homes with low incomes, and families are voicing the need for more mental health services and concrete support for food and essential goods, as well as legal assistance and housing services. Our leadership team has helped to build a strong partnership with the school and active parent community to respond to this need. 

“Our goal is to create a truly trauma-informed community school that improves students’ social-emotional and academic success while also promoting family well-being and self-sufficiency,” Diane notes. “Staff like Alex are a critical part of how we’re able to remove the barriers that prevent families from engaging in mental health services and other community resources.”

Children’s Home & Aid recently received a two-year, $300,000 grant from the Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation to expand our partnership with Schubert so that more children and families in Chicago’s Belmont-Cragin neighborhood have what they need to thrive. This grant is the latest private foundation investment in our behavioral health program at Schubert Elementary, which began in 2016 with just one mental health therapist. Now through this grant, our agency can serve nearly four times as many children and their families.  

Our community and funding partners, along with individual donors, help make school-based programs like the one at Schubert Elementary possible, ensuring that families have the tools and resources they need at the first sign of difficulty. During National Mental Health Awareness Month, we encourage our supporters to think about the importance of providing opportunity—at every point possible—for families to tap into their potential, overcome obstacles, and create the safe, nurturing environments their children need to flourish and grow. Thank you for walking alongside families with us this May, and throughout every month of the year. 

If you’d like to learn more about the mental health services, we provide to Illinois children and families in Illinois, visit our “counseling and treatment programs” page.

share
No Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search the Blog

Categories

  • 135th Anniversary (16)
    • Hope With Wings (1)
  • Adoption (15)
  • Associate Board (1)
  • Black History Month (3)
  • Blue Bow Campaign (18)
  • Butterfly Project (1)
  • Central Region (24)
  • Champions for Children (11)
  • Chicago Cubs (2)
  • Child Welfare (12)
  • City of Chicago (25)
    • One Summer Chicago (12)
      • Summer Intern Project (8)
  • Corporate Partner Spotlight (6)
  • COVID (1)
  • Crisis Nursery (9)
  • Cultural Competence (2)
  • Diversion and Inclusion (1)
  • Diversity and Inclusion (1)
  • Domestic Violence (1)
  • Donor Spotlight (2)
  • Early Childhood Services (16)
  • EDI (6)
  • Education (9)
    • Literacy (1)
  • Equity (1)
  • Families Thriving Podcast (2)
  • Family Visitation Center (1)
  • Fatherhood (4)
  • Fiscal Scan (4)
  • Foster Care (8)
  • Foster Care Spotlight (2)
  • Foster Parent Mentoring (5)
  • Fundraising (25)
    • Stuff the Bus (2)
  • Graze & Raise (1)
  • Healthy Families Home Visiting (2)
  • Holiday Time (19)
  • Home Visiting (1)
  • In the News (16)
  • Jerri Hoffmann Child & Family Center (1)
  • LGBTQ (1)
  • Memorial Day (1)
  • Mental Health (5)
  • Mission (27)
    • Careers (14)
      • Internship (7)
    • Leadership Spotlight (9)
  • Mitzi Freidheim Child + Family Center (4)
  • MotherHouse (1)
  • Mothers Day (1)
  • Northern Region (13)
  • Philanthropy (9)
  • Power of Fathers (4)
  • Program Results (58)
    • CCAP (2)
    • Choose 2 Change (7)
    • Community Schools (5)
    • Doula (4)
    • Foster Care (19)
      • Intact Family Services (2)
    • Head Start (2)
    • Healthy Start (2)
    • Mentoring (5)
    • Parents Care + Share (2)
    • Redeploy Illinois (2)
    • RISE (1)
    • Safe from the Start (2)
    • Stat of the Month (3)
    • Stronger Beginnings for Families (3)
  • Relative Caregivers (2)
  • Rice Child + Family Center (19)
  • Southern Region (13)
  • State Budget Crisis (6)
  • The Ahlquist Center (30)
    • Advocacy (18)
    • Newsletter (7)
  • Uncategorized (18)
    • Mentorship (4)
  • Veterans Day (2)
  • Volunteer Spotlight (4)
  • Woman's Board (7)
  • Youth Budget (2)

On Twitter

My Tweets

HRC Seal of Recognition

Image
Children's Home + Aid is a recognized leader in supporting and serving LGBT families.
Children's Home + Aid

Corporate Home Office

200 West Monroe Street, Ste 2100, Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 424-0200
+ DONATE NOW!

ABOUT

  • Media / Press Room
    • Press Releases
  • Careers
  • Financial Information
  • Corporate & Foundation Partners
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy

GET IN TOUCH

  • Contact Us
  • Volunteer
  • United Way
  • COA

© copyright 2022 children’s home + aid