Middle Country Central School District heard a presentation Thursday about a newly launched partnership with Northwell Health to expand school-based mental health services for students, the district heard.

Dr. Vera Foyer, medical director for child psychiatry at Northwell Health, told the Board of Education the program aims to combine hospital clinical teams with school clinicians to provide prevention, early recognition and expedited access to specialists and treatment. “Our goal is to mold together our clinical team with your clinicians in the buildings to be together, 1 clinical team to be able to support students,” Dr. Foyer said.

The presentation described a multi-tiered model: universal mental health education (tier 1) that Dr. Foyer said aligns with a New York state mandate on mental health education; clinical consultation for at‑risk students (tier 2); and a brick‑and‑mortar behavioral health center in Riverhead that can see students on the same day or usually within a week, according to Dr. Foyer. Services listed in the presentation include child psychiatry evaluations, neuropsychological testing when needed, care coordination to help families navigate insurance and referrals, virtual and in‑person parent programming, teacher continuing-education credits (CEU/CTLE) through the BOCES My Learning platform, peer‑advocacy training for high school students and critical‑incident/postvention support for schools.

Dr. Foyer said the Riverhead center is already seeing students. She told the board that parents may access the center directly and that Northwell requests releases of information to enable school‑clinical collaboration; she emphasized that only information relevant to a student’s support in school would be shared.

Board members thanked Northwell. Board member Patricia Parisi said the partnership “was so needed” and noted a resident who is already using the service called it “wonderful.” The board and Northwell discussed plans for district communications; Dr. Foyer said the health system and district leadership are scheduling a rollout of newsletters, web posts and building‑level outreach so families and staff understand available services.

No formal action or vote on the partnership was recorded during the meeting. Board members asked staff to coordinate distribution of program information and to work with Northwell on scheduling school visits, parent sessions and staff trainings.

The presentation named program partners and described outreach plans but did not list contract terms, funding sources, or a formal memorandum of understanding during the meeting. Dr. Foyer said photographs and fuller presentation materials would be provided to the district and shared with families.

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