Mental Health Care for the Underserved

Shoshana is an 11-year-old with social anxiety who receives weekly counseling at school through Title 1 services (Dept of Education). She comes from a large family where both her parents work and there is significant financial stress, making it challenging to consistently take her to an office for therapy after school.

Receiving school counseling through these funds allows Shoshana to conveniently access support for her mental health needs within her school environment and enables her to be available for learning. However, she is at risk of losing this vital support - both through possible changes to education and support funding, as well as from potential cuts to Medicaid, as she and her siblings are currently covered by it.  

Diane and Richard are foster parents to two siblings who had been removed from their biological parents’ care. The couple is in the process of adopting the children, ages 2 and 3, who currently receive individual therapy and family therapy funded by the children’s Medicaid insurance coverage.

This essential therapy plays a crucial role in helping the children recover from trauma and in strengthening their relationships with their foster parents. Therapy has made a tremendous difference in their behavior at home and their ability to find security in their lives after their early years of neglect. 

This significant progress would be interrupted or even halted if federal funding for their therapy is decreased or cut entirely.

Medicaid insurance makes it possible for 15-year-old Steve to receive therapy services he depends on for his mental health well-being. He regularly speaks with his counselor about his concerns related to his identity, as well as his feelings of not being supported by his family.

Steve walks to his therapy office after school and independently engages in services because his parents don’t value the importance of his expressed need for mental health support. His therapist has provided him with resources for crisis support and they regularly engage in safety planning and building Steve’s support network at school.

Steve has shared with his therapist that their continued relationship is what is “keeping him going” in life. His overall mental health would be greatly affected if his Medicaid coverage were to be eliminated or even reduced.