2022 Education magazine

2022 Education Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS February / March 2022 Page 29 The MOSAIC – Meaningful Opportunities for Success and Achievement through Service Integration for Children – program’s expansion means program counselors and staff now serve Northwest, Washington-Monroe, Central, West Lincoln-Broadwell, Adams, Chester East Lincoln and New Holland- Middletown elementary schools, in addition to Lincoln Junior High School. The program is funded in part by a grant from the Lincoln Memorial Foundation, the fundraising arm of Lincoln Memorial Hospital. So far in the 2021-2022 school year, 95 students have been referred to services, totaling more than 400 hours of individual or group counseling, through the MOSAIC program. The program also provides suicide prevention and crisis assistance training. Beneath the program’s more obvious benefits – increased accessibility and convenience to participate in mental healthcare services – is a less measurable, but real shift in how Logan County residents view mental health and therapy in general. The Children’s MOSAIC program, said Ponser, is helping to normalize for young people topics associated with mental health, including the benefits of counseling and support services. By embedding counselors in schools, where children see them interact with other students, teachers and staff, MOSAIC Continued p