Washington Informer: D.C.’s School Mental Health System Works — Don’t Dismantle It (Op-Ed)

Carolyn Greenspan, Director of the School-Based Mental Health program at Mary’s Center, authors this opinion piece outlining concerns about DBH’s proposed comprehensive plan for school based behavioral health, which includes phasing out contracts with community-based organizations like Mary’s Center.

Transitioning the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health School-Based Behavioral Health program away from CBOs would be a massive undertaking that is bound to be incredibly disruptive as current clinicians are pulled out of schools. The proposed plan will reduce the number of CBO contracts from 12 to a maximum of four in school year 2026-27, before removing all CBO positions in school year 2027-28. This would reduce Mary’s Center’s capacity to a quarter of what it was in school year 2024-25, when we served 662 students. Instead, we will only be able to serve an estimated 171 students. It is unclear how services for the remaining three-quarters of students will be transitioned to other providers, if at all. Not only that, but this would also be a loss of years of work that we have done to build relationships, infrastructure, and resources alongside our school partners.