Derry Township School District plans to implement Care Solace, a mental health resource, in the upcoming month. The website will be available to all staff, students, and family members.

Working similarly to a hotel concierge, Care Solace finds mental health care services and providers for its users. The program connects people with professionals, outside of school staff, that are available and accessible to their personal needs. 

As the people at Care Solace said, the system works to “calm the chaos of mental health care.”

To use the website, users can either choose to keep their personal information anonymous or include it to receive better, more specific help. After sharing information, such as your insurance, situation, or preference, the website will give you options for care around you. 

“You have so many options that I don’t think kids realize exist,” said Lindsay Schmidt, principal of Hershey High School. Care Solace is able to connect its users to personal therapists, group therapy, trauma therapy, grief counselors, and more. It eliminates the long process of finding what specific help a person needs and when they can get that assistance.

Now that DTSD has joined the program, they will have their own personalized website for its users. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CocwLdeMCXH/ 

As the school district realized that finding mental health support and care can be difficult, they began planning to add this to be another outlet for students to use, in hopes of helping the community improve mental health. 

Schmidt said that she hopes the program will “support the mental health needs of our entire school community while removing the barriers that exist when trying to access some of those supports.”

On January 23rd, the program officially passed through the school board during their meeting. Since then, the DTSD staff has been trained to guide students to Care Solace if they are in need of assistance. Furthermore, the district plans to advertise the new program in morning announcements, emails, and QR codes around the schools.

Care Solace also helps 15 million students, staff, and families at 600+ school districts nationwide. Several school districts in the surrounding areas have already taken advantage of this program, including Middletown Area School District and Susquehanna Township School District.