Brookline Resilient Youth Team
The Challenge:
Each year, one in ten adolescents will have a serious emotional disorder that often results in a psychiatric hospitalization or prolonged absence from school and always disrupts his or her schooling, home life, and social supports. Re-entering school afterwards is fraught with problems. Depressed and anxious, having trouble concentrating, fearing relapse and social rejection, they are at high risk for academic failure and social isolation. Their families are in crisis too, trying to navigate the maze of medical, mental health and substance abuse systems. The complex needs of these students overwhelm most public high schools.
What We Do:
BRYT is a unique response to help these teens and their families. Two school-based Clinical Coordinators (social workers) and a Classroom Aide work closely with students and their families during a crisis then through the four–to-eight week re-entry process. The Coordinators provide clinical care, support and information, help families negotiate the service network, facilitate communication with health care personnel and therapists, and liaison between students, teachers, and tutors. A specialized "Home-base" classroom located right in the high school serves as a safe place where students can check in as needed during the day, receive tutoring, and get counseling and academic support such as organizing and completing school work.
Who Created BRYT: BRYT is a collaboration between the Brookline High School and Brookline Community Mental Health Center.
What We’ve Accomplished:
· Over 200 teens have been helped from 2004 to 2008.
· 90% of BRYT students continued their schooling without disruption.
· BRYT is cost-effective, preventing out of school placements or rehospitalizations.
· BRYT students show improved school functioning on standardized measures.
· Families report that they function better, with decreased stress and anxiety.
· The BRYT model has been successfully replicated by Wellesley, MA High School.
· Planning for replication have begun in several metro Boston communities including Lynn and Wayland.
· BRYT staff educated teachers on how to respond to the needs of seriously emotionally ill students.
· We’ve built a strong collaboration between parents, schools, and mental health agencies.
Our Next Steps:
· Replicate the program in additional communities both locally and nationally.
· Expand the range of support groups for families and teens in BRYT.
· Develop diversified funding streams including the Brookline Schools, MA Departments of Mental Health and/or Education, health insurance coverage, and foundation grants to sustain BRYT long term.
· Share the skills and lessons we’ve learned in presentations and by developing a manual.
Thanks To:
•Brookline Public Schools •Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation •Bay State Federal Charitable Foundation •Brookline Bank •Brookline Housing Authority •Brookline Tuberculosis & Health Society •Klarman Family Foundation •Friends of Brookline Public Health •Sidney & Esther Rabb Charitable Foundation •Sovereign Bank
Contact Information
Henry White, M.D.
Program Director
(617) 277-8107
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Katherine Porter LICSW
Program Coordinator
(617) 713-5021
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Annie Minard LCSW
Clinical Coordinator
(617) 713-5488
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Justin Kasarsky
Classroom Aide
(617) 713-5488
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Each year, one in ten adolescents will have a serious emotional disorder that often results in a psychiatric hospitalization or prolonged absence from school and always disrupts his or her schooling, home life, and social supports. Re-entering school afterwards is fraught with problems. Depressed and anxious, having trouble concentrating, fearing relapse and social rejection, they are at high risk for academic failure and social isolation. Their families are in crisis too, trying to navigate the maze of medical, mental health and substance abuse systems. The complex needs of these students overwhelm most public high schools.
What We Do:
BRYT is a unique response to help these teens and their families. Two school-based Clinical Coordinators (social workers) and a Classroom Aide work closely with students and their families during a crisis then through the four–to-eight week re-entry process. The Coordinators provide clinical care, support and information, help families negotiate the service network, facilitate communication with health care personnel and therapists, and liaison between students, teachers, and tutors. A specialized "Home-base" classroom located right in the high school serves as a safe place where students can check in as needed during the day, receive tutoring, and get counseling and academic support such as organizing and completing school work.
Who Created BRYT: BRYT is a collaboration between the Brookline High School and Brookline Community Mental Health Center.
What We’ve Accomplished:
· Over 200 teens have been helped from 2004 to 2008.
· 90% of BRYT students continued their schooling without disruption.
· BRYT is cost-effective, preventing out of school placements or rehospitalizations.
· BRYT students show improved school functioning on standardized measures.
· Families report that they function better, with decreased stress and anxiety.
· The BRYT model has been successfully replicated by Wellesley, MA High School.
· Planning for replication have begun in several metro Boston communities including Lynn and Wayland.
· BRYT staff educated teachers on how to respond to the needs of seriously emotionally ill students.
· We’ve built a strong collaboration between parents, schools, and mental health agencies.
Our Next Steps:
· Replicate the program in additional communities both locally and nationally.
· Expand the range of support groups for families and teens in BRYT.
· Develop diversified funding streams including the Brookline Schools, MA Departments of Mental Health and/or Education, health insurance coverage, and foundation grants to sustain BRYT long term.
· Share the skills and lessons we’ve learned in presentations and by developing a manual.
Thanks To:
•Brookline Public Schools •Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation •Bay State Federal Charitable Foundation •Brookline Bank •Brookline Housing Authority •Brookline Tuberculosis & Health Society •Klarman Family Foundation •Friends of Brookline Public Health •Sidney & Esther Rabb Charitable Foundation •Sovereign Bank
Contact Information
Henry White, M.D.
Program Director
(617) 277-8107
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Katherine Porter LICSW
Program Coordinator
(617) 713-5021
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Annie Minard LCSW
Clinical Coordinator
(617) 713-5488
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Justin Kasarsky
Classroom Aide
(617) 713-5488
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it