Achievement First & Cartwheel Partnership Provides Access to High-Quality Mental Health Care

At Achievement First, our mission is to prepare every student to excel in college and career, deepen their knowledge of self and community, and lead lives of purpose. In partnership with our families and communities, we work to disrupt the legacy of inequity in education. To accomplish this mission, we need to constantly adapt to meet the evolving needs of our students. One of the new challenges is the rise in mental health disorders among young people. In response to this crisis and aligned with our AF value of caring for the whole person, Achievement First partnered with mental health provider Cartwheel to bring students and families rapid access to mental health care via telehealth. Thousands of Achievement First students can now benefit from mental health services they wouldn’t otherwise have access to due to waitlists, insurance issues, language availability, transportation, and other barriers. Cartwheel’s services help address a range of common mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, insomnia, and familial issues.

How the Program Works

A social worker or counselor can refer a student based on exhibited need, or a student or family can reach out to their school social worker to see if Cartwheel could be a good fit. All services are voluntary and subject to parental consent. Upon receiving a referral, Cartwheel contacts the family within two days to schedule a one-hour virtual intake assessment with a licensed therapist. Students can request therapists with a specific background, language ability, and/or clinical experience, and Cartwheel will do its best to match the student to a therapist who is a great fit. After the first session, students can join ongoing weekly therapy sessions for up to 6 months. Sessions are held via a secure telehealth platform during the day as well as evenings, weekends, school breaks, and throughout the summer. In addition to therapy, Cartwheel is also able to provide psychiatric evaluation and medication management in a timely manner, which is extremely beneficial considering many private providers have waitlists that are more than 6 months long. The partnership with Cartwheel is one piece of Achievement First’s broader strategy to strengthen a Multi-Tiered System of Support for student mental health. Achievement First’s mental health program has grown from 48 to 65 mental health clinicians, and an internal clinical supervisor program has created a talent pipeline for social workers and counselors.

Increased Investment in Mental Health

This increased investment is a response to the fact that last year, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called children’s mental health the “defining public health crisis of our time.” Nationwide, the share of high school students feeling persistently sad or hopeless has increased by 40%, and the number creating a suicide plan increased by 44% compared to prior decades. Students with mental health issues are more at risk of experiencing chronic absenteeism and disciplinary issues such as suspensions and expulsions. Unaddressed anxiety can sometimes lead students to avoid or refuse to attend school. All of these figures are even worse for Black and Brown students, who are too frequently stigmatized as behaviorally challenged, resulting in social isolation and a lack of adequate attention from adults and caregivers, a reality that served as a major driver for Tiffany Bostic LCSW, Achievement First’s Chief of Support Services, to launch the initiative. “Our students are disproportionately impacted by the lack of access to mental health services, sometimes spending months on waitlists for care,” she says. “Our work with Cartwheel is a major step to get students access to clinical care when they need it, make it easier for our school-based teams to support students, and help students and their families build skills that will help them succeed in the classroom and beyond.”

Access for AF Families

Since Cartwheel accepts all major insurance plans, including Medicaid, services are free or low-cost for the vast majority of families. Services are provided through an online platform that is compliant with healthcare, education, and privacy regulations, as well as all other applicable federal, state, and local laws. The telehealth model is key to Carthwheel’s ability to meet each student's unique needs. According to Dr. Juliana Chen, Cartwheel’s Chief Medical Officer and child-adolescent psychiatrist, “Telehealth allows us to match students in a personalized way to more than 100 therapists on our team based on that student’s preferences - whether that’s a therapist of a specific cultural background, clinical experience, or scheduling availability. By removing transportation and scheduling barriers, we also make it easier for parents and caregivers to support their kids while juggling a busy schedule.” Since getting started with Cartwheel in the fall, social workers and counselors at more than a dozen AF schools in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island have referred students for telehealth services. In total, approximately 147 students have received referrals to date. “At Achievement First, we strive to meet both the academic and social-emotional needs of our students. This partnership with Cartwheel is a critical component in ensuring our students can reach full academic potential, receive a well-rounded education, and lead lives of purpose,” said Tiffany Bostic.

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How the Program Works

Increased Investment in Mental Health

Access for AF Families

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