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FCPS highlights school mental‑health supports, Hazel Health teletherapy and opioid prevention; gaps for middle schools noted
Summary
Superintendent Michelle Reid told the board FCPS provides school‑based mental health professionals, community partnerships and Hazel Health teletherapy for high school students. The board heard usage and cost data and discussed expanding services to middle schools, which would require additional funding.
At a May 22 presentation the Fairfax County School Board received an update on the division’s mental‑health services, partnerships and substance‑misuse prevention work, including the Hazel Health teletherapy program for high‑school students and opioid prevention efforts funded from settlement money.
Why it matters: board members tied mental‑health access to student safety and learning. The presentation outlined current services, usage data for teletherapy and gaps in access for younger students.
Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid said school‑based mental‑health professionals — counselors, social workers and psychologists — provide prevention, assessment and crisis supports in FCPS schools and that the division partners with outside providers including Hazel Health, Our Minds Matter, Fairfax County Community Services Board, Heart Leaf Center and Northern Virginia Family Services. “Hazel Health currently is available to all High School students,” Dr. Reid said during the presentation.
Dr. Reid reported Hazel Health’s FY26 budgeted cost at $1,260,000 and told the board that, from July 1, 2024, through May 13, 2025, 1,068 students had been referred and 2,777 teletherapy sessions had been conducted. She said roughly half of referrals came from families and half from school‑based staff. The board was told parental permission is required for participation.
Board members and staff noted usage concentrates in upper grades and discussed expansion to middle schools. Dr. Reid said Hazel Health has not yet been extended to middle schools because of budget implications but that expansion remained “a possibility.”
On opioids and overdose prevention, Dr. Reid described divisionwide protocols for suspected school‑connected overdoses, training for nurses and staff, stocking of naloxone in school clinics and buses, and use of opioid‑settlement funds for prevention messaging and family outreach. Dr. Anderson told the board the division’s dashboard currently shows “0 suspected overdoses in our schools this year,” a point staff confirmed as progress.
Several board members raised access gaps for K‑8 students. Dr. Reid said elementary schools rely primarily on school‑based staff and community partnerships, and that some middle‑school services are more “fractured” than the high‑school teletherapy network. Board members directed staff to explore renegotiation options and more efficient service mixes for wider access while emphasizing family involvement in teletherapy referrals and treatment.
Ending: Board members asked staff to follow up with data on K‑8 service levels, teletherapy referral pathways and options to expand or renegotiate Hazel Health to increase reach and value for money.
