Project Harmony partners with UNO students to bridge gap as kids wait for therapy
Project Harmony says there are more children in need of mental health services than there are therapists right now. That means longer wait times for families trying to get help.
Project Harmony says there are more children in need of mental health services than there are therapists right now. That means longer wait times for families trying to get help.
Project Harmony says there are more children in need of mental health services than there are therapists right now. That means longer wait times for families trying to get help.
Project Harmony says there are more children in need of mental health services than there are therapists right now. That means longer wait times for families trying to get help.
They hope a collaboration with college graduates will help bridge the gap, at least for a while.
Project Harmony still wants to provide resources during that time.
"It's imperative for us to find ways of helping kids while they're waiting to be matched with a therapist and helping start kids along the process of learning about themselves and their emotions," said Jordan Grieser, Director of Connections Program.
To do that, they asked UNO Psychology students for help and they made "modules" to engage children.
"We went over confidentiality, peer conflict as well as anxiety. And these were topics of high need and that were expressed by Project Harmony," said first-year school psychology program student Bianca Ruiz.
On Monday, the students presented their modules on a range of topics.
The students used two "characters" who will teach kids about things like how to handle anxiety, management strategies and what it looks like.
These will be given to those families as they wait to be matched with therapists.
They're also working to make them available in Spanish.
"So having examples in there that will be culturally sensitive and culturally relevant to the community, especially within the school setting, but also when we start making those like family modules, making sure that it's relatable to that culture background as well," said Ruiz.
Project Harmony hopes these modules will help make the waiting easier.
"They'll have been kind of engaged that entire time so that they are feeling, you know, not only that this is still the help that they need, but that they're really ready to take that next step," said Grieser.