The State Department of Health and Human Services officially kicked off an initiative on Wednesday that aims to provide virtual mental health services for more than 400,000 K-12 students. The partnership is with Hazel Health, which is a telehealth service, and UnitedHealthcare.
Virtual mental health services are currently live at Harnett County Schools and Durham County Public Schools. At the kick off event at Shawtown Elementary School in Lillington, State Health Secretary Dev Sangvai said Harnett County was chosen due to the needs of the school district.
“Partly, it was based on which counties had reached out for this type of assistance,” he said, at Wednesday’s event. “And, I think Harnett County stood up and said, ‘We’re willing to do the kind of work that needs to be done.’”
Sangvai said he feels the services are needed, because one in four children are experiencing a mental health need in school…