History

The Health and Wellness team started with the launch of our clinic in 2008. Back then, this facility was equipped with a Nurse who provided rudimentary care to the visitors as per their need. From there the team grew to address the needs of our student body. For example, in 2012 one of our female students tragically committed suicide seemingly without prior warning signs. In response, we added mental health awareness topics, increased our knowledge and prepared to expand our services.

In late 2013 we hired a mental health fellow to help us establish a mental health program.  Leveraging this ground work, we hired our first full-time counselor in 2016 who offers one on one and group counseling sessions to students. Our third wave of growth began as we saw the need to improve our admissions process into our home and school to ensure we were selecting children who fit our target demographic. We also wanted to more closely monitor students' conditions. Our students face complex issues at home requiring government non-government coordination, referrals, family intervention and occasionally legal action. We hired our first full time social worker in 2018. After a number of years of ad hoc familial support we formalized our vulnerability screening process using a series of tools and home visits. This Family Development Program launched in 2021, delayed a year due to COVID-19.