CATALINA FOOTHILLS SCHOOL DISTRICT

Phone Apps

• Headspace: "Meditation has been shown to help people stress less, focus more and even sleep better. Headspace is meditation made simple."

• Breathe2Relax: "Breathe2Relax is a portable stress management tool. Breathing exercises have been documented to decrease the body’s ‘fight-or-flight’ (stress) response, and help with mood stabilization, anger control, and anxiety management."

• Calm: "Calm is the #1 app for Sleep, Meditation, and Relaxation. Offers guided meditations, Sleep Stories, breathing programs, stretching exercises, and relaxing music."

• What's Up?: "Utilizes some of the best CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) methods to help you cope with Depression, Anxiety, Anger, Stress and more."

• Insight Timer:  "Offers the largest free library of guided meditations on earth and the world’s most loved meditation timer, for free."

• University of Arizona's Campus Health Website: Features information about strength and resilience.

Websites

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): NIMH is the lead federal agency for research on mental health disorders. The NIMH brochure on teen depression provides warning signs and ways to get help for yourself or someone else. 

• SAM App: "SAM will help you to understand what causes your anxiety, monitor your anxious thoughts and behavior over time and manage your anxiety through self-help exercises and private reflection. The 'Social cloud' feature will enable you to share your experiences with the SAM community while protecting your identity."

• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): "NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness."

• Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA): "When feeling anxious or stressed, the strategies listed on the site can help you cope. Visit the managing stress and anxiety website page for other helpful resources."

• Headspace: "Headspace is committed to advancing the field of mindfulness meditation through clinically-validated research on our product."

Social Media Accounts

       @calm

       @tinybuddha

       @headspace

       @MindfulEveryday 

• La Frontera: La Frontera Center provides outpatient and residential mental health and substance abuse treatment services to children, youth, and adults in Pima County. Contact: (520) 838-5600.

• Banner - University Medicine Whole Health Clinic: Provides outpatient primary health care and behavioral health services. Contact: (520) 694-1234.

• University of Arizona Department of Psychology Behavioral Health Clinic: Outpatient therapy to individuals, couples and families at low cost. The BHC serves as a training center for graduate students in the Department’s Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. Contact: (520) 621-9683.

• Catholic Community Services of Southern AZ: Committed to helping individuals develop solutions for dealing with life’s stresses and uncertainties and improving quality of their lives and relationships. Counseling services are provided by Masters-level licensed professionals and by supervised interns. Contact: (520) 623-0344.

• Jewish Family & Children's Services: Offer hope and healing to people dealing with anxiety, depression, family conflict, loss, trauma, and other life issues. Contact: (520) 795-0300.

National Helpline Resource Directory

• The Child Mind Institute: An independent, national nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children and families struggling with mental health and learning disorders.
   
• Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL): Offers specific tips for what parents can do to support social and emotional learning at home. Also provides links to external sites with additional resource guides and parenting toolkits.
   
• TODAY Parenting Guides: Benchmarks and tips for your child's academic, physical, and social-emotional growth.
   
• ADDitude: A source of important news, expert advice, and judgment-free understanding for families and adults living with attention deficit disorder. (ADDitude does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The material on this website is provided for educational purposes only.)
   
• Childwelfare.gov: A compilation of resources by the government intended to help families support their LGBTQ+ youth, including understanding what to expect and learning how to talk about important issues. 
   
• Healthy Children: Resources for Parents of LGBTQ+ Teens: "Coming out" is a lifelong journey of understanding, acknowledging, and sharing one's gender identity and/or sexual orientation with others. This site provides families with ways to help support LGBTQ+ youth.
   
• Article: "Listen and Connect: How Parents Can Support Teens' Mental Health Right Now."

• Teen Lifeline: Teen Lifeline's Peer Counseling Hotline provides youth in need the opportunity to access immediate help from a Peer Counselor seven days a week, 365 days a year. Contact: 1-800-248-8336.​​​​​​
   
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals. Contact: 1-800-273-8255.
   
• Open Counseling: International emergency and suicide hotline information. 
   
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): Provides mental health advocacy, education and support to people with mental illness (and their loved ones) in our community. Community-Wide Crisis Line Contact: 1-866-495-6735 or (520) 622-6000. 
   
• HOPE Warm Line (non-emergency): Trained peer support for non-crisis situations. Contact: (520) 770-9909.

• Tu Nidito: Safe place where children, teens, young adults and families find comfort, hope and support while they are grieving the diagnosis of a serious illness or the death of a loved one. Contact: (520) 322-9155.

• The Trevor Project:  Trained counselors available to support you 24/7. If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgment-free place to talk, call the TrevorLifeline now at 1-866-488-7386. The Trevor Project also offers TrevorChat - confidential online instant messaging with a Trevor counselor (available 24/7), TrevorText - confidential text messaging with a Trevor counselor (available 24/7/365), and TrevorSpace - an online international peer-to-peer community for LGBTQ youth and their friends.

• The It Gets Better Project: A nonprofit organization with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth around the globe. Growing up isn’t easy, especially when you are trying to affirm and assert your sexual orientation and/or gender identity. It can be a challenging and isolating process – but, the good news is, no one has to do it alone.

• LGBT National Help Center: Vital peer support, community connections, and resource information. Other great features include "LGBT Near Me."

• Healthy Children: Coming Out: Information for parents of LGBTQ Teens Visit this site to find helpful information as you discover more about yourself, your friends, and your place in the world. There is also information that may help your parents understand you better.

• Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN): Leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. GLSEN seeks to develop school climates where every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes to creating a more vibrant and diverse community

• Southern Arizona Gender Alliance (SAGA): Offers information, support services and social opportunities for transgender people while educating others about transgender issues. SAGA envisions a society in which transgender and transsexual people are ensured of their basic rights and can be open, honest, and safe at home, at work, and in the community. SAGA organizes educational, social, and advocacy programs for gender-diverse people and their significant others, friends, families, and allies.

• CDC: On this page, find resources from the CDC, other government agencies, and community organizations for LGBTQIA+ Youth, their friends, educators, parents, and family members to support positive environments.

• Ultimate Guide to Resources for LGBTQ+ Students: Top resources for students going to or getting ready for college. Includes LGBTQ+ resources from various colleges, as well as certain financial aid opportunities.

The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. Click here to apply for the NSLP.

Families who demonstrate need through the National School Lunch Program (Free/Reduced Lunch), may qualify for:  

• Free or reduced lunch and breakfast

• Waived course and athletic fees

• Assistance with graduation cap and gown and Grad Night

• Fee Waivers: SAT, PSAT, ACT, college applications 

When completing the application (https://catalina.familyportal.cloud/), please indicate that your child’s counselor may have access to this information. This will help the student qualify for other assistance such as transcript fee waivers, school supplies, etc.
 

YOTO is an acronym for “Youth on Their Own.” This organization is a local not-for-profit agency founded to support the high school graduation of youth who are not living with parents. YOTO supports high school-aged students by providing financial assistance and basic household and personal needs, as well as guidance and other resources, while they work to complete high school.
 
Students currently residing in any setting other than with their biological parent(s) are able to apply for the YOTO program. The reason for being on one’s own does not matter as long as it is through no fault of the student.  (E.g., Students choosing to leave home because they don't like living with their parents would not qualify.) An application may be submitted at any point during the school year, and returning students must reapply at the start of each school year. 

If you or someone you know can benefit from the services YOTO provides, or for information on how to help this organization support local youth, visit the YOTO website at http://yoto.org/.  Students may submit an application at http://yotoaz.org or contact counselor Lori Leary at 520-209-8380 or lleary@cfsd16.org 

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is intended to guarantee homeless children and youth access to education and other services that will allow them to meet the same student academic achievement standards as other children in the state.  If you have become homeless or displaced, contact counselor Lori Leary at 520-209-8380 or lleary@cfsd16.org.  Information re McKinney-Vento can be found here.