Boys and Girls Club of San Antonio to add mental health services

SAN ANTONIO. The Boys and Girls Club of San Antonio will soon offer mental health care to hundreds of children at no additional cost.

The organization plans to add mental health services using a grant from the Baptist Health Foundation. The Boys and Girls Club will hire two mental health consultants and a clinical director using a nearly $1 million award over three years.

“This is a first for Boys and Girls Clubs in San Antonio and this is a gap that we discovered some time ago,” said India Chamney, Director of Development for the San Antonio Club.

During the first year of the program, the clinical director will develop a mental health program that can reach children in each of the six San Antonio clubs. Consultants will move between institutions providing assistance.

“We have already identified children who can really benefit from mental health services,” Chumney said.

The club plans to add consultants in the coming years, so every San Antonio facility will house a licensed professional. The program will eventually be expanded to treat parents and staff.

Chumney noted that many children only visit mental health specialists at school, where counselors have other responsibilities. These specialists may not be available all year round.

“Our city has mental health services, but our kids can’t often connect to them” due to financial barriers and transportation restrictions, Chumney said.

“Our children truly deserve the best we can offer them,” she said. “But it’s not always available to our families.”

The San Antonio Boys & Girls Club service will be one of the first City mental health programs available to children outside of school at no additional cost.

The counselors will meet the children in the place where the children are already comfortable.

“Having someone who loves and cares… means the whole world to them,” Chumney said. “It’s such a privilege, but we also see it as a huge responsibility.”