(Athens, Ohio) – Today, the Joe Burrow Foundation and Nationwide Children’s Hospital announced the launch of a new training and consulting program to help school-based health centers support students’ mental health needs, starting with 20 school districts in Appalachian Ohio.
The Burrow Blueprint: Advancing Primary Care Mental Health in Schools, a powerful framework designed to strengthen school-based health centers across the country, will launch in Ohio for the school districts that were awarded grants in 2024 through the Appalachian Children Coalition to support school-based health services. The grants were made possible by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s Appalachian Children’s Health Initiative. This more than $64 million investment includes dozens of projects to improve access to health care in 36 communities across 20 Appalachian counties in Ohio. To date, five new school-based health centers are now open through this project, with 15 more expected to open over the next year.
School-based health center teams, in collaboration with school staff, play a critical role in supporting students’ overall health needs and providing timely care. The new Burrow Blueprint program is designed to give school-based primary care teams the tools they need to confidently address student mental health needs through education and training on primary care mental health, peer-to-peer support and connection to behavioral health services for consultation.
“In our hometown of Athens, Ohio, access to mental health resources was extremely limited. This is common across the United States, as more than half of rural counties have zero psychiatrists,” said Robin Burrow, secretary and treasurer of the Joe Burrow Foundation. “We know primary care providers are the first point of contact for families dealing with a mental health concern, but they might not always feel like they have the expertise to treat mental health issues. The goal of the Burrow Blueprint is about building capacity, fostering connections and improving outcomes in the mental health space.”
Nationwide Children’s has been offering primary care mental health through its School Health Services in its 20 school-based health centers for nearly 10 years. As a result of its work in this space, 97% of students with behavioral health concerns seen at a school-based health center were managed by primary care providers and did not have to be seen by a behavioral health specialist during the 2023-2024 school year, according to the hospital.
As part of The Burrow Blueprint, Nationwide Children’s will provide technical assistance and online training modules for the providers located in these school districts.
The Burrow Blueprint’s education and training modules will cover topics such as integrated care and dealing with common conditions like anxiety, depression and ADHD. In addition, providers will have peer-to-peer check-ins and will establish connections with psychiatric experts for consultations and, if necessary, follow-up care.
Listening to the unique needs of each community is a critical component of the Burrow Blueprint. Participants in the program provide feedback to team members at Nationwide Children’s on their community’s needs and consult on the development of the programmatic components.
“Our model empowers school-based primary care teams to confidently address student mental health needs in their local communities,” said Mary Kay Irwin, ED, senior director, school health services at Nationwide Children’s. “We’ve reduced psychiatry wait time by almost four months. When this type of service is provided in schools, it allows students to stay in school and attain better academic achievement.”
The Burrow Blueprint is also launching in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as Ohio and Louisiana are places Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has called home. The program is expected to expand to additional school-based health centers in the future.
For more information, visit NationwideChildrens.org/Burrow-Blueprint.
About the Joe Burrow Foundation
Since launching in October 2022, the Joe Burrow Foundation supports families and children facing food insecurity and mental health challenges in Ohio, Louisiana, Kentucky and beyond. Founded by NFL quarterback Joe Burrow and his parents, Jimmy and Robin Burrow, the Foundation empowers local organizations through grants and partnerships to “Do Good” in underserved communities. Learn more at joeburrow.org.