Free Telehealth Program provides care for area students
Students in Liberty and other area school districts now have access to mental health care as part of a state program that provides free telehealth visits at school.
The districts began implementing the program just over a year ago and have already seen students benefit. Hardin ISD Assistant Superintendent Tammie Marberry said there’s been abundant demand for the program, known as TCHATT, or Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine.
“We see a huge need for behavioral health support in public schools,” Marberry said. “Anytime I can find a resource that we can bring to the district to help support students, we are 100% on board with that.”
In Liberty ISD, the district’s counselor Lola Jones said many junior high students use TCHATT counselors for generalized anxiety concerns. Jones, who is a licensed professional counselor, has noticed significant improvements among these students. Although TCHATT is primarily a short-term intervention, project managers will help arrange long-term counseling if needed and continue until the student finds the right fit.
“If they are wanting to continue counseling for something that is a little bit more long term, then that case manager will start the process in trying to get them linked up with a counselor,” Jones said.
In Cleveland ISD, TCHATT supplements established mental health resources the district already provides. The two programs work in tandem, according to TaKosha Fluence, Pine Burr Elementary counselor.
“Because we’re so far in a remote district, we have on-campus mental health providers as well,” Fluence said. “We do use TCHATT… if we have special cases or if the parents request TCHATT.”
TCHATT combats the shortage of mental health care professionals in Texas by providing resources to address students’ mental health concerns. Teachers refer students to the program, funded by the Legislature, and parents’ consent to the virtual counseling sessions, which are held at the school.
Through the state program, students receive one-on-one free counseling, medication management and treatment for some of the most common issues, such as anxiety, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, said TCHATT Project Manager Rachel Jew.
In the summer, students can continue telehealth visits at home, Jew said.
The program began four years ago and is available in 69% of schools statewide. Schools must opt in to the program for students to have access to services. Over 174,000 counseling sessions have been provided to more than 33,000 students across the state.
In 2023, all of the area school districts joined TCHATT. Since joining, Cleveland, the largest of the districts, had students participate in 178 one-on-one virtual counseling sessions, while Dayton had 67 sessions, Liberty 45, Hardin 21, Tarkington 9, Hull-Daisetta 3, and Devers none, according to data provided by TCHATT.
The program helps Fluence provide care to more students.
“It does really help because we’re spread thin,” Fluence said. “We have 400 students. It does really help and then they have the licensed professional counselors that they can speak with.”
The TCHATT program helps school counselors focus on academic counseling instead of balancing behavioral and academic needs.
“A school counselor is designed for academic counseling, how can you be successful in school,” Hardin’s Marberry said. “What we’re seeing is we have a ton of students and families who need support that’s beyond what’s happening in the school day.”
With the current demand Hardin ISD has encountered, the district brought on social worker Cynthia Fregia to help families connect with resources.
“Having that additional resource of TCHATT really gives us another tool in our tool chest that gets a pretty quick intervention to a family,” Marberry said. “Also, then that’s another team member, an extension of our team, that can help connect those families with additional resources if they need ongoing counseling.”
Fregia refers students to TCHATT from the elementary, junior high, and high school campuses. She has overseen high-risk referrals, including cases of students experiencing self-harm thoughts.
“One of their counselors immediately emailed me and said, ‘Hey, we need more information. Are these thoughts happening in real time? Is this student in danger of hurting themselves at the moment?’” Fregia said. “It was very one-on-one. They were very prompt, so I just thought that was amazing.”
Additionally, Fregia had a referral where a student had trouble due to the split of her parents. One week, she would stay with her mom, and the next week with her dad. During the weeks she was with her dad, the child would not want to leave school and go home so Fregia referred the student to TCHATT counselors.
“She started seeing a counselor via Zoom in my office. She would come in once a week,” Fregia said. “That student’s done so well; she’s worked through four sessions with that counselor and now she doesn’t even have the problem anymore.”
Texas is ranked last in access to mental health care by advocacy group Mental Health America, and rural areas suffer the greatest deficit, according to Texas Community Health News.
Counties such as Hardin and Liberty are designated as health care provider shortage areas, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, which makes TCHATT even more crucial.
Jones said at Liberty schools, they have a confidential space set aside for students to meet with the counselors.
“For some, their parents aren’t able to take them to Baytown or Humbel or Beaumont after school based on different reasons ,so it breaks down a lot of barriers and creates more accessibility to mental health services for the students,” Jones said.
For more information, check TCHATT’s resources for parents.
Luke Applewhite is a journalism major at Texas State University and a contributor to Texas Community Health News, a collaboration between the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the university's Translational Health Research Center. TCHN stories, reports and data visualizations are provided free to Texas newsrooms.