District 88 names DuPage County Health Department as Business Partner

During its Oct. 28 meeting, the District 88 Board of Education named the DuPage County Health Department as a Business Partner.

At District 88, the safety, health and well-being of students and staff is our No. 1 priority. We know building relationships precedes learning, and we continue to focus on connecting with all students. For students to achieve academically, we must first meet their needs outside of the classroom – including providing mental health and social-emotional assistance.

The DuPage County Health Department is a prime example of an organization working with us to achieve these goals. During the meeting, the District 88 board and administration thanked DuPage County Health Department Executive Director Adam Forker and Director of Community Initiatives Mila Tsagalis for all they do for District 88’s students, families and learning community.

The health department assists the district in implementing the Elyssa’s Mission SOS Signs of Suicide screenings, which the district began during the 2022-23 school year; provides a variety of physical and mental health services for Addison Trail and Willowbrook students; and helps secure funding for these much-needed initiatives, programs and supports. This includes a $50,000 funding opportunity provided by the DuPage County HOPE Taskforce, which was used to integrate Youth Mental Health First Aid and teen Mental Health First Aid at the schools. The district received a $32,500 Strategic Prevention Framework grant as well, which will fund ReferralGPS, a free, web-based service that assists students, staff and community members in finding local treatment for mental health and substance use needs. 

The health department also has been a tremendous member of the Addison Resources Connect, or ARC, group, whose mission is “To connect Addison youth and families with community resources that support well-being and growth.” They were a key part of the ARC team that helped the Village of Addison be named as the 2020-2021 RWJF Culture of Health Prize winner by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. And their data – particularly through the Impact DuPage dashboard – is vital to ARC’s efforts and Addison Community Resource Guide.

• To watch the presentation, click on the video above.
  
  
• To view a photo gallery from the event, see the images below. Click on the images for photo captions.