Co-Responder Team Bridges Mental Health Gap for Youth

Bridging the gap with Co-Responder Teams in Thompson School District (Photo by Thompson School District, January 30, 2023)

Providing support for the approximately 15,000 students in Thompson School District requires the work of hundreds of staff members, including the collaboration of people with all different areas of expertise. Thompson School District’s inaugural co-responder team is one of the best examples of how effective cooperative work can be. For Larimer County Sheriff’s Deputy Brendan Solano and SummitStone Health Partners licensed clinical social worker Maryann Ramos Flynn, each day they spend working as co-responder team members in Thompson School District is unpredictable. Still, they all have one thing in common: They provide a unique opportunity to advocate for youth.

The goal is to be able to have kids be in school safely and function at a healthy level so they can be productive members of society as well as helping connect students to whatever help they need and assisting families in supporting their children. When Maryann and Brendan are not busy responding to calls, they do preventative work in schools, talking to students about how the co-responder team can help them and what other resources are available. Maryann says this allows the Thompson School District co-responder team to bridge additional gaps that maybe be happening between students and school staff.

For full article visit the Thompson School District website >