Care Comes Together at Pan American International High School
Benefits Access, Suicide Prevention Program & School-Based Mental Health
Sometimes it takes a village. And sometimes, it takes a team.
In 2024, the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) awarded The Child Center of NY a grant to launch a new Suicide Prevention Program (SPP) serving historically underserved populations and LGBTQ+ youth.
In less than two years, the program is already gaining recognition as a model for others. In 2025, OMH selected The Child Center to host the Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence at Columbia University as an example of innovative work in the field. Representatives visited two of our sites to see the program in action, speak with staff and families, and gather ideas to share with other grantees seeking to strengthen their own programs.
One of our program’s unique and vital components is helping families access essentials like housing, health insurance, and food—because we know these needs don’t exist in silos and aren’t separate from mental health.
“If you’re living in a car because your family was evicted, or you can’t find a doctor who accepts Medicaid for a chronic condition, no amount of therapy in the world is going to be enough,” explains Gerda Gonzalez, LCSW, Senior Program Director of the SPP.
Just as these challenges are interconnected, so are the people working to address them. Multiple programs, organizations, and team members work together to ensure students and families know there is someone they trust whom they can count on when they need support.
Pan American International High School in Elmhurst, Queens, epitomizes this approach. Several Child Center programs come together to support its students and families, including SPP; our school-based mental health wellness center, which provides therapy right at school and makes mental health an integrated part of students’ education; and Child Center Benefits Access (BA). BA Case Manager Darling DaSilva Ortiz helps families access health insurance, SNAP (food stamps), housing, and other resources that are critical to their well-being.
Just as important, Child Center staff work hand in hand with school faculty and staff to create a seamless system of support—one where families don’t have to go in circles trying to figure out where to turn.
Darling puts it this way: “We have the SBMH wellness center with two bilingual clinicians. The OMH-Suicide Prevention Program brought me on board, as well as a school-based counselor, Dayana Pazan. And we all work with teachers, administrators, and Pan American IHS Parent Coordinator Juana Adames. Juana already has trust in the school community and helps connect us with hard-to-reach parents, facilitate communication with families, and provide referrals for students who could benefit from mental health services.”
The suicide prevention grant has also opened the door to new ways of collaborating. This year, Dayana hosted several parent workshops focused on understanding youth mental health and breaking down the stigma that can sometimes surround mental health services in Latinx communities. Juana helps spread the word about these events and creates opportunities for Child Center staff to connect with parents more effectively.
It was at one of these workshops that Darling and Juana first connected. Knowing that many families struggle to make ends meet—and that financial hardship can have a profound impact on mental health—Juana was grateful to learn more about the Benefits Access services Darling provides through the SPP.
Since then, Juana has referred more than 60 parents to Darling for help navigating resources and services, including SNAP, health insurance, mental health services for parents, and more.
“Many families require additional guidance when connecting to outside services due to concerns about language barriers, or uncertainty about navigating complex systems,” Juana explains. “These concerns can sometimes prevent families from seeking help altogether. However, families have reported overwhelmingly positive feedback about their experience with Darling at Benefits Access. Parents have expressed appreciation for Darling’s compassion, responsiveness, and ability to guide them through processes that often feel overwhelming. The trust that Darling has been able to build with families has contributed significantly to their willingness to access services and resources that improve their overall well-being.”
The result is more than a collection of services. It’s a network of people who know one another, communicate regularly, work together to meet families where they are—and ensure they don’t get stuck there. As research and our seven decades of firsthand experience show, when people have the resources to rise, the sky’s the limit.
You can learn more about the OMH Suicide Prevention Program across six Child Center sites in this blog post by Senior Program Director Gerda Gonzalez. You also can read about why our team members do this work, what it means to them, and why it’s important—to them and the people they serve—by selecting a photo below.
