UM Gets $2.6M to Expand Mental Health, Preschool Education Programs

The Clinic for Outreach and Personal Enrichment and the Growing Healthy Minds, Bodies and Communities, or GHMBC, initiative received $1.5 million and $1.1 million grants, respectively, from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Both projects are housed in the School of Education. The funding will be distributed over a three-year period.

"At the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we believe every child should thrive," said Todd Klunk, the foundation's program officer. "We support programs like Growing Healthy Minds, Bodies and Communities and COPE, which help children develop holistically and provide accessible mental health services, building stronger communities in Mississippi."

Started in 2019, the GHMBC program provides training and resources to support preschool teachers, students and students' families. The program's interactive curriculum offers a holistic approach to education, supplementing state requirements with lessons in gardening, yoga, nutrition, physical activity, and managing their emotions.

"This grant is enabling us to become more accessible to everyone," said Alicia Stapp, program co-founder, assistant chair of teacher education and associate professor of health and physical education at Ole Miss.

"We're working on curriculum manuals and exploring ways to provide mass quantities of our learning resources, like our meal kits, family engagement events and classroom tower gardens, in an affordable, deliverable way."

Twenty-two schools have adopted the program, and this funding allows the initiative to begin working with schools on its waitlist this fall.

Additionally, the GHMBC team will develop an online training model and add mentorship support for preschool educators. The goal is to streamline the entry process and open the program to early childhood educators nationwide, said Kenya Wolff, program co-founder and director of the Graduate Center for the Study of Early Learning.

"Our data from student, teacher and parent surveys highlight the power of the program's holistic approach," Wolff said.

"Children are improving their impulse control and becoming more receptive to trying new vegetables. Parents also report their children becoming more willing to play with someone who looks different than them and voluntarily practicing mindfulness and coping strategies."

With funds from its grant, the Clinic for Outreach and Personal Enrichment, or COPE, plans to expand to fill gaps in available counseling services for students from preschool to high school, and soon, for teachers and staff themselves.

Established in 2015, the clinic offers free or income-based mental health services for children, adults and Ole Miss students. During the 2023-24 academic year, COPE provided more than $492,000 worth of mental health services to people across the state.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, state funding and a previous Kellogg Foundation grant helped the clinic build a secure way to deliver online counseling to Mississippi students.

The clinic plans to expand its free telemental health services to more schools and after school programs that have limited access to counseling resources, said Richard Balkin, professor and chair in the Department of Leadership and Counselor Education.

"Our goal is to expand these services because barriers to the traditional model for in-person counseling exist for many reasons – because of location, disabilities, transportation or insurance," he said. "COPE's services are not just for north Mississippi; we're reaching out into areas that have been disenfranchised."

COPE has state-licensed counselors who supervise and train master's and doctoral students in the university's counselor education program. This grant also will help cover online counseling certification costs for student counseling interns.

As the demand for mental health services grows, prioritizing the mental well-being of young people statewide will help them perform better in school, said Amanda Winburn, professor of counselor education.

"If you have a child who's showing up to school and they can't stay awake, they're worried about what's happening at home or they're having several challenges emotionally, they can't focus on math," Winburn said.

"If you're worried about survival, math doesn't mean anything. English doesn't mean anything. Sometimes we forget that."

For more information on how to contribute to these efforts, contact Katie Morrison, at katie@olemiss.edu or 662-915-2135.

This material is based on work supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant agreement P-6026826-2024 and W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant agreement P-6026445-2024.

Top: Students enrolled in a head start program in Greenwood participate in an interactive Growing Healthy Minds, Bodies and Communities lesson. The program’s physical activity promotes healthy lifestyle choices and helps children sharpen motor skills. Submitted photo