Westminster, Md. – Through a partnership with the Carroll County Public School System and the Carroll County Children’s Fund, Carroll County General Hospital has implemented a program to help transition students back to school following treatment for behavioral health problems.

Along with providing students the opportunity to continue to earn needed credits while receiving therapy, the transition program is aimed at facilitating communication between parents, school counselors and teachers to assure that students successfully return to the school environment. Tutorial services are provided three days a week for two hours to students admitted as inpatients, and five days a week for two hours to students in the partial-hospitalization program at Carroll County General Hospital.

Carroll County schools provide the required textbooks and assignments so that students can stay on task with their peers.

“The stressors that students face when going back to school are what often lead to them being readmitted to the hospital,” said Larry Welsh, director of Behavioral Health Services at Carroll County General Hospital. “What the transition program does is help get students, family and school personnel on the same page and moving in the right direction.”

The idea is to help students continue to succeed in the classroom by offering support to students as they re-enter the school system after treatment. “The program provides guidance to kids at a time when they have the least amount of emotional support,” said Dick Simmons, supervisor of pupil personnel and support services for Carroll County Public Schools. “This is an innovative approach in Carroll County. We don’t believe this type of program is happening anywhere else in the state.”

To help with the initial funding, the Carroll Children’s Fund donated $21,000 to jump-start the transition program. A non-profit organization in Westminster, the Carroll County Children’s Fund was established in 1983 by pediatrician Karl Green, M.D., to provide medical assistance to children whose families were underinsured or uninsured. To date, the Children’s Fund has pledged nearly $90,000 to community organizations that work with young people.

“Students face a myriad of fears and anxieties when they miss school days because of a behavioral illness, including lagging behind on course work and stigmas associated with their illness,” said Mary Anne Reichelt, coordinator of the transition program at Carroll County General Hospital. “To have such a concerted effort can make a real difference in sustaining and maintaining the recovery phases in the lives of the adolescents.”

Founded in 1961, Carroll County General Hospital is a nonprofit, acute care facility offering a continuum of services, including comprehensive inpatient, outpatient and community programs.

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