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Board adopts Mental Health Awareness Month resolution; district highlights new referral portal linking schools to community behavioral-health partners
Summary
The Poudre School District Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution recognizing Mental Health Awareness Month and heard from district mental health coordinators and community partners about a new online referral system intended to streamline access to community mental and behavioral health services.
The Poudre School District Board of Education on April 22 approved a resolution supporting Mental Health Awareness Month for May 2025 and heard a presentation on a multi-agency referral portal designed to connect students and families to community behavioral-health services.
"School staff play a critical role in supporting student mental health," Sarah Mauder Wilkins, mental health and prevention coordinator for PSD, told the board. She and counseling coordinator Beth Green described school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers and mental health specialists as frontline supports and emphasized the benefit of coordinated community partnerships.
The nut graf: PSD staff said a new online referral system, built by the district’s IT team in partnership with SummitStone Health Partners, Larimer County and the Health District of Northern Larimer County, aims to streamline referrals from school to community providers so students and families receive timely access to services.
Wilkins and Green credited two state behavioral health administration awards to local partners that helped fund a two-year collaboration to build the portal. "This initiative streamlines the process of connecting students and families to community-based mental and behavioral health resources through an online referral system developed by PSD's IT department that creates a seamless pathway from school to community support services," Wilkins said.
Representatives from SummitStone Health Partners, Larimer County Behavioral Health Services, Kayak (the youth program at the health district of Northern Larimer County) and PSD’s IT team described roles in the project; speakers included Andrea Strayer (SummitStone director of outpatient services), Lee Angelon (director, Health District of Northern Larimer County) and members of PSD IT including Amy Walker and Sarah Seipel. The board later approved the resolution 7–0.
Why it matters: district leaders said the portal reduces barriers for families seeking behavioral-health care and formalizes pathways between schools and community partners, a change district staff said will help get services to students faster and enhance coordination.
Ending: Board members thanked staff and partners; the district said it will continue to publicize the portal and partnerships as Mental Health Awareness Month approaches.
