Budget constraints have forced many counties around the country to cut programs and services, and Marin County, CA is no exception. Still, mental health screening has remained a funding priority for schools there, and Esme Gordon, the TeenScreen Program Coordinator for the county’s Family Service Agency, knows why.

Marin school districts and boards of education understand the value of TeenScreen, she says, and find the funds to implement the program in their high schools.

“During these times of severe financial cutbacks in funding, our local schools have found the funds to bring TeenScreen to their campuses,” she says.

In fact, the number of TeenScreen programs has grown from two in 2008 to five currently, says Esme, and a San Francisco high school has requested a screening program be implemented later this year.

“The success of TeenScreen in the original schools we screened in has strongly motivated other schools to bring the programs to their campuses,” she said.

Read one’s students remarkable story of Marin County’s first TeenScreen program.

Hear more from Esme about how Marin uses TeenScreen to ensure that “young people who may be falling through the cracks get the help they so desperately need.”