CHATHAM – Behavioral Health Innovators, Inc. recently announced that they have received a grant of $101,000 from the Peter & Elizabeth Tower Foundation to support the new Cape Cod Positive Alternative to School Suspension (PASS) program.
The pilot program seeks to replace school suspensions and address mental health and substance abuse disorders among Cape youth by providing alternative restorative disciplinary measures with licensed counselors.
The program includes substance use and mental health education, counseling, and referrals to needed services, allowing students to find success when they return to the classroom.
“The PASS program gives school staff the opportunity to offer a student an alternative to suspension, and provides an intense, individualized social/emotional learning experience that will greatly benefit the student,” said Stephanie Briody, Co-Founder and CEO of Behavioral Health Innovators.
“We are adapting a successful model from the North Shore of Massachusetts to the needs of Cape Cod schools, and we are grateful for the support of the Tower Foundation,” she said.
BHI was founded on the Cape in 2016, to develop solutions for substance use challenges and mental health issues in the Cape’s 24-and-younger population.
The Peter & Elizabeth Tower Foundation is a family foundation based in New York which collaborates with non-profit organizations to help children, adolescents and young people affected by learning disabilities, mental health issues, and substance abuse disorders.
“If we can get ahead of the substance use and/or mental health issues that our community’s teens struggle with more and more, we will open up a future of wellness, health, resilience, and productivity for a generation of young people,” said Briody.
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By, Matthew Tomlinson, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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