March 19, 2024 Breaking News, Latest News, and Videos

Letter To The Editor: SMMUSD Health & Safety DAC Support Wellness Center At Samohi:

Dear Editor,

We, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Health and Safety District Advisory Committee, strongly support funding for the Venice Family Clinic (VFC) as the lead agency of a Health and Wellness center at Santa Monica High School (SAMO High).

Creating a Health and Wellness center on SAMO High’s campus is consistent with a growing, successful model of student healthcare that’s taking place at high schools throughout California. In fact, LAUSD already has 14 such centers, and there is one nearby at Culver City High School. These centers of coordinated care increase student access to vital health and mental health services, as well as promote an overall culture of student wellness.

Here in Santa Monica, we currently fund a few non-profit providers to deliver mental health and substance abuse services at our two high schools (Family Service of Santa Monica, St. John’s Child and Family Development Center, and Clare Foundation). At the new SAMO High Wellness Center, these providers would continue to provide services for our students at a centralized, recognized center that students can identify with. Additionally, these providers will be augmented by VFC acting in a lead and coordinating capacity.  VFC is a federally qualified health care center, and thus can bill insurance companies to Swiss Replica Watches help underwrite the cost of these services.   In addition, VFC will provide oversight of coordination between these nonprofit partners, as well as school district personnel like school principals, psychologists, nursing staff, counselors, and advisors. This center will sit at the cutting edge of wraparound wellness services for students to improve overall wellbeing, which we know can lead to improved academic performance. This model of intense coordination that would exist at the centralized wellness center is at the heart of our city’s Cradle to Career initiative.

We strongly support our city of Santa Monica’s staff budget recommendation to continue funding the current non-profit providers that provide health and mental health services at our high school, as well as the recommendation to fund VFC as a coordinating agency for the new Health and Wellness center at SAMO High.

Sion Roy MD

Chair, SMMUSD Health and Safety DAC

on behalf of the DAC

in Opinion
Related Posts

SM.a.r.t Column: Can California ARBs Balance Affordable Housing with Community Character in the Face of New Housing Laws?

March 17, 2024

March 17, 2024

By suggestion, I attended the March 4th ARB (Architectural Review Board) meeting that addressed the Gelson Lincoln Boulevard Project.  After...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Need for Safety

March 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Earlier this week, in the dark pre-dawn hours, a pair of thugs covered in masks and hoodies burst into the...

Film Review: The Oscar Landscape 2024

March 7, 2024

March 7, 2024

FILM REVIEWTHE OSCAR LANDSCAPE 2024A Look at the Choices – Academy Awards – March 10, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. on...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Five Saving Historic Santa Monica

March 3, 2024

March 3, 2024

Our beloved City is surrounded by many threats, from sea level rise to homelessness, to housing affordability, to cancerous overdevelopment,...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Gelson’s Looms Large

February 22, 2024

February 22, 2024

Our guest column this week is by SMCLC (the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City). SMCLC is a well-established...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Top Toady Town

February 18, 2024

February 18, 2024

Throughout history, from the ancient Romans and Assyrians to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, siege warfare has served as an...

S.M.a.r.t Column: The Sunset of Home Ownership

February 11, 2024

February 11, 2024

We are watching the sunset of our historical and cultural American dream of home ownership as we now are crossing...

SMa.r.t. Column: B(U)Y RIGHT

February 4, 2024

February 4, 2024

“By Right” state housing laws that give developers, in certain projects, the ability to ignore codes ‘by right.’ Well, that...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Serf City

January 28, 2024

January 28, 2024

Homelessness is a problem in California, and nowhere is this more evident than in our fair city, where the unhoused...

S.M.a.r.t  Column: Bond Fatigue

January 22, 2024

January 22, 2024

Last week’s SMart article,  described two critical problems faced by our Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD): the declining...

S.M.a.r.t Column: Peace on Earth

December 27, 2023

December 27, 2023

We are all, by now, saturated with jingles, holiday cards, “ho ho ho’s,” countless commercial advertisements, and exhortations to feel...

S.M.a.r.t Column: On the Clock with Mayor Brock

December 17, 2023

December 17, 2023

I became Santa Monica’s Mayor on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, following a simple “switch of the chairs” transition with outgoing...

S.M.a.r.t Column: SANTA MONICA CITY COUNCIL 2024

December 10, 2023

December 10, 2023

Position:Seeking Santa Monica City Council Candidate(s) Introduction:Exciting opportunity for the right candidate(s) to work with like-minded Council members committed to...

S.M.a.r.t Column: ARB (NOT Ready to Build!)

December 3, 2023

December 3, 2023

Santa Monica City’s Architectural Review Board (ARB), established in 1974, acts “…to preserve existing areas of natural beauty, cultural importance...

SMa.r.t. Column: We are thankful for….

November 27, 2023

November 27, 2023

SMa.r.t. would like to wish you all a great Thanksgiving with friends and family and also to thank its readers...