Siouxland mental health organization receives $500,000 grant
SOUTH SIOUX CITY,
Neb. (
KCAU
) — A Siouxland mental health organization is expanding its efforts to serve more students in rural Nebraska.
Folks living in rural towns will sometimes travel hours to talk with a therapist.
“Resources in small towns can be very scarce,” said Jennifer Jackson, the executive director of Heartland Counseling Services.
In an effort to help kids in small towns with their mental health, Heartland Counseling received a roughly $500,000 grant from the Clarkson Institute in Omaha, Nebraska.
Story continues below
“We are actually going to expand into four new school districts. We’re currently in 14 school districts in northeast Nebraska. And with this money, we’re going to be able to hire seven new staff members. So we’re going to hire four licensed therapists, and we’re also going to hire three certified peer support specialists. And so they will be full-time in the new school districts,” said Jackson.
Heartland Counseling covers 15 counties in Northeast and Central Nebraska, and, thanks to the grant, its services will now cover a total of 18 school districts, shortening how far students will have to travel to talk with professionals.
“The majority of our population is here in South Sioux City. However, we do have quite a few individuals and families and people that need services out in the rural communities. People travel quite a distance to get the services that they need,” said Erin Thomson, with Heartland Counseling Services.
“We have people that drive a good, I would say an hour, hour and a half to come here,” said Thomson.
Officials say this grant will not only help the students…
“I deal with a lot of kids and adults that experience suicidal thoughts or suicidal ideation. And if you combine that with peer support, then we’re able to wrap around services around all of the individuals that aren’t able to necessarily resort or find the resources needed to address their mental health situations,” said Thomson.
But also the school districts.
“Schools already have a lot going on, and to then have to deal with anything that is out of their scope. And so by having a mental health therapist on site, again, it just really makes the teachers lives easier and really helps those kids and those families,” said Jackson.
Jackson says their therapists will be ready for the 2025-26 school year.
To learn more about Heartland Counseling and what services they provide, visit
their website
.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Leave a Reply
