Interact for Health grant for Beech Acres to deepen access, equity in mental health care

By Peter Osborne

Beech Acres Parenting Center has been awarded a $100,000 grant from Interact for Health to address barriers to mental health care and broaden the continuum of care from treatment to prevention. Funding will support work at Beech Acres to ensure greater access to mental health services around the foundations of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

“We are thankful to Interact for Health for supporting our efforts to expand mental health services for un-served and underserved children and families, which is a major need in the Greater Cincinnati region,” said Laura Mitchell, president and CEO, Beech Acres.

Beech Acres recognizes that creating long lasting improvements in the mental health of the community requires an expansion of its services under a DEI framework. Grant funding from Interact for Health will therefore allow for cultural competencies training for Beech Acres programs and staff, and a poverty simulation with St. Vincent de Paul to help convey the complexities around poverty. Specialized therapists will become available for LGBTQ+ individuals. Funding will increase access to Beech Acres mental health support in schools during academic hours. The agency will partner with community organizations to better provide services through its Glenmore and Warren County offices.

Grant funding will also support additional focus areas that will aid in the delivery of mental health services to non-English speaking individuals, community partners, rural families, and children in kinship care, while supporting a fee waiver program and sliding scale fee structure for low-income families using Beech Acres services.

Investments will be felt across all Beech Acres programs, supporting the mental health of the entire family by giving them the tools they need to thrive. These programs include Beyond the Classroom™ and The Character Effect in partner schools, which offer primary health prevention, social and emotional programming, targeted interventions and behavioral health treatment services. The Beech Acres Parent Connext program will also benefit, as the program delivering parent coaching to families through pediatric offices and workplace settings. The Beech Acres With All Families program, which includes adoption services, foster care, kinship care and related services, is also included in the work to be improved by this grant.

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