{"id":58920,"date":"2025-12-12T08:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T08:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/58920\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T08:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T08:07:12","slug":"some-kids-dont-really-have-anyone-to-talk-to-or-trust-chill-rooms-are-filling-that-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/58920\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Some kids don\u2019t really have anyone to talk to or trust.\u2019 Chill Rooms are filling that gap."},"content":{"rendered":"

Savannah Kerns, an 11-year-old sixth grader, struggles with social anxiety. Crowds overwhelm her. \u201cI feel like if I get something wrong, people laugh at me,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kerns recently transitioned from elementary school to Pleasant Hills Middle School<\/a> in the South Hills. She\u2019s navigating her class schedule in a larger environment and encountering a wider variety of teachers and students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of those students \u2014 \u201cmostly guys from different classes\u201d \u2014 bullied her. \u201cEspecially because of my weight and style,\u201d said Kerns, who wore an elegant, floor-length black dress while speaking with this reporter in the school\u2019s \u201cChill Room.\u201d She regularly seeks refuge in the space, which is designed to soothe with soft lighting, abundant plants and nature motifs, including an enclosed seating area built by IKEA decorators to look like a hollowed tree. It\u2019s as wide as a young giant sequoia and can accommodate at least 10 students.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>Sixth grader Savannah Kerns poses for a portrait in the Chill Room at Pleasant Hills Middle School on Nov. 20. (Photo by Alex Jurkuta\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

This Chill Room is one of 50 in K-12 schools across Allegheny, Washington, Bedford and Erie counties \u2014 scaled up from just two when the Allegheny Health Network\u2019s (AHN) Chill Project<\/a> launched in 2019. The program sets up calming spaces in participating schools that evoke natural environments such as the woods or a bear den (for the Clairton High School Bears<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

An AHN behavioral health school educator mans each Chill Room and is trained to work with students while they decompress in the space. The educator partners with school faculty to teach coping skills rooted in cognitive behavioral therapy<\/a> and dialectical behavior therapy<\/a>. And an AHN behavioral health clinician provides talk therapy to students and works with a doctor to prescribe medication, if necessary. These staffers work full-time at their assigned school and build trust in the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cSome kids don\u2019t really have anyone to talk to or trust,\u201d said Kerns, \u201cand they can come down here whenever they\u2019re feeling upset, angry [or] nervous, and they can talk to whoever\u2019s here.\u201d Behavioral Health School Educator Shelly Meier helped her understand why her peers turn to bullying<\/a> and referred her to the \u201cChill Skills\u201d after-school program, which she\u2019s enjoying. \u201cIt just makes a big impact on [my] mental health,\u201d added Kerns, who at one point \u201cdidn\u2019t want to get out of bed in the morning\u201d and wished to be homeschooled to avoid the bullying.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chill Project staff say it fills a need for preventive school-based mental health services \u2014 a resource that\u2019s sorely lacking in the region, according to Director William Davies. As a result, \u201cwe have been able to get in front of some pretty serious actions kids were going to take in harming others,\u201d he said, including \u201ca couple of situations that most likely would have turned into a school shooting.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Experts foresee a volatile funding environment for school-based mental health services. Federal pandemic relief funding<\/a> that helped some school districts pay for Chill Project contracts has expired<\/a>. A 135-day state budget impasse<\/a> imperiled funding for essential services in Pennsylvania, including an annual appropriation for school safety and mental health services. And the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d will slash Medicaid<\/a>, which plays a large role in financing school-based health services, said Nirmita Panchal, a KFF<\/a> senior policy manager and an expert on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Davies expects the Chill Project will remain stable due to its diversified funding streams, which include clinical services billable to insurance and AHN\u2019s \u201cstrong philanthropy department.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Children \u2018suffering and dying\u2019 in schools<\/p>\n

The Chill Project is the brainchild of Davies, who saw children \u201csuffering and dying\u201d in or near schools in his previous role managing child and adolescent ambulatory services at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He realized that mental health services in local schools were based on \u201cantiquated,\u201d \u201creactive\u201d models that don\u2019t prevent crises. Health systems similarly require kids to meet a clinical threshold to get diagnosed and treated, and to have insurance that covers the bill. \u201cThere isn\u2019t anything preventive going on mixed with very high student-to-school-counselor ratios,\u201d said Davies, calling those conditions \u201ca recipe for disaster.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He decided to act after five kids died by suicide and five more from gun violence in recent years across two Allegheny County school districts, one affluent and one underserved. (Davies asked Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source not to name the districts to protect the privacy of the students and their families.) He pitched his idea to Doug Henry, vice president of psychiatry and behavioral health at AHN\u2019s parent company Highmark Health, who helped him conceptualize the Chill Project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first two Chill Rooms \u2014 at Pleasant Hills Middle School and Baldwin High School \u2014 were funded by the Jefferson Regional Foundation<\/a> and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation<\/a>.* Davies said the latter \u201cwas very interested\u201d in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District<\/a> because Robert Bowers \u2014 who shot and killed<\/a> 11 congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history \u2014 was a student in its system<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\/<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the kind of tragedy that Chill Project staff are working to prevent through the program\u2019s mission: bridging the gap between a large health system and school districts ill-equipped to meet the \u201cmodern mental health needs\u201d of their students, Davies said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel like we were meeting\u201d those needs, said Daniel Como, principal of Pleasant Hills Middle School in the affluent West Jefferson Hills School District<\/a>. The school \u2014 which had 819 students in the 2024-25 school year \u2014 had just one guidance counselor for years. \u201cIt was overwhelming for her,\u201d said Como, though \u201cshe never complained.\u201d The school hired a second counselor this year. (Pennsylvania\u2019s student-to-counselor ratio during the 2023-24 school year was 319-to-1, according to the American School Counselor Association<\/a>. That\u2019s higher than the group\u2019s recommended ratio of 250-to-1.)<\/p>\n

Como, a Pleasant Hills administrator since 2003, remembered when just \u201csix or seven kids were in school-based therapy.\u201d He said the Chill Project spurred \u201ca huge turnaround\u201d in the number of kids receiving services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>A \u201cChillmometer\u201d used to help students quantify their emotions in the Chill Room at Pleasant Hills Middle School on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. The chill room is a space designed to help students relax and better understand their emotions. (Photo by Alex Jurkuta\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

Mackenzie Forsythe is the Chill Project\u2019s full-time behavioral health clinician at Pleasant Hills. Trained as a licensed clinical social worker, she treats about 40 patients at the school. Of those, 18 to 25 attend weekly therapy sessions while others see her less frequently because of the progress they\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n

She helps kids manage depression and anxiety, and facilitates testing for autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder if she or a teacher suspects a child is neurodivergent<\/a>. Some cases are more serious: \u201cThere are suicidal ideations that are happening,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s depressive feelings and self-injury.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Learning \u2018Chill Skills\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat \u2026 are some physical things that can happen to us when we\u2019re stressed?\u201d Meier, the behavioral health school educator, asked a group of seventh graders during their weekly Chill Skills lesson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI slam my head \u2026 and get a headache,\u201d one student said after gentle prodding from seventh-grade teacher Naomi Beres. \u201cI start fighting the anger,\u201d said another. \u201cI like this!\u201d the first student called out, enjoying the open dialogue about a topic that many adults downplay<\/a> or avoid altogether.<\/p>\n

Meier used a flat-screen TV to run through a slide deck on mindfulness<\/a>, defined as \u201cpaying attention to our thoughts, feelings, body sensations and surroundings in this present moment.\u201d She walked the kids through mindfulness exercises for stress relief, such as breathwork<\/a> and the 5-4-3-2-1 technique<\/a>. And she guided them through mindful eating<\/a> of a Hershey\u2019s kiss, which taught them how to become attuned to their senses and practice self-control.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re feeling stressed and you don\u2019t know what to do, you can come here,\u201d she told the students. \u201cYou can take a mindful break.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>Writing on a white board outlining expectations for students in the Chill Room at Pleasant Hills Middle School on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. The chill room is a space designed to help students relax and better understand their emotions. (Photo by Alex Jurkuta\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

Some might object to students missing class, but Meier said Chill Room time is structured to minimize long absences. If a student needs time in the room, their teacher will issue a digital hall pass that alerts Meier. As soon as they walk in, she has them fill out a \u201cthermometer\u201d form to gauge their stress level from 1 to 5. They\u2019ll do so again before leaving the room.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kids have their pick of cozy nooks in the space. Most are drawn to the tree, but some choose the couch in front of an electric fireplace or an armchair in \u201cthe Chill Corner.\u201d They settle in and talk to Meier, who\u2019ll use evidence-based techniques to help them deal with their problem. \u201cYou never know what you\u2019re going to get\u201d while listening to a student, she said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no time limit in a Chill Room, but Meier tries to make the student feel comfortable enough to return to class as soon as possible. The average visit to the rooms lasted just over 12 minutes during the 2024-25 school year. Surveys show a statistically significant reduction in students\u2019 perceived emotional distress after they spend time in a room, Davies said. Meier logged 340 student encounters in the Pleasant Hills room in October. The average thermometer reading was 3 on arrival. It dropped to about 1.7 when students left.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rising need and funding woes\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clairton City School District<\/a> is just a 15-minute drive from West Jefferson Hills, but they\u2019re separated by deeply entrenched racial and economic fault lines. In a 2016 report<\/a>, the defunct<\/a> nonprofit EdBuild<\/a> ranked the border between the two districts as the fourth-most economically segregating in the country. While West Jefferson Hills has a \u201chealthy property tax base and can mostly self-fund its schools,\u201d Clairton \u201ccan only raise half as much from local taxes,\u201d the report found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Clairton relies on the state to fund 73% of its budget.<\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s original budget proposal earmarked $111 million statewide for school safety and mental health services in K-12 schools \u2014 down from $120 million in the 2024-25 budget.<\/p>\n

Some legislators pushed to preserve the allocation during the budget impasse. State representatives Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, and Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh County, who co-chair the House Mental Health Caucus<\/a> and co-authored an op-ed<\/a> in the Tribune-Review arguing for school mental health funding, both told Public Source that the issue is a top concern among school superintendents in their districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the number one problem,\u201d said Schlossberg, who is also the house majority whip. \u201cThat\u2019s literally what I hear \u2014 more than safety, more than concern about out-of-school activities, more than school construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kids in Nelson\u2019s Westmoreland County district tend to live in rural areas where the barriers to mental health care are higher due to lack of transportation or long travel distances to providers. \u201cTheir parents just can\u2019t get to the therapy office after school,\u201d he said, noting superintendents told him that school-based services are often a child\u2019s only access point for mental health support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>Eighth-grander Ava Bogard poses for a portrait in the Chill Room at Pleasant Hills Middle School on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. The chill room is a space designed to help students relax and better understand their emotions. (Photo by Alex Jurkuta\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

When the impasse finally ended on Nov. 12 with the passage of a budget<\/a>, the school safety and mental health number in the final budget was $100 million.<\/p>\n

Clairton was hit hard<\/a> by the budget stalemate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was going to be super problematic for a minute,\u201d Davies said, noting the district had to take out a private loan to continue operations last month due to the state\u2019s four-month failure to make payments. Clairton can\u2019t pay AHN nearly as much as West Jefferson Hills can for its services, Davies added, so the Chill Project raised enough in donations to sustain program operations there.\u00a0<\/p>\n

School-based mental health services play a crucial role in helping students from districts like Clairton overcome barriers to care, said Panchal, the KFF expert. Kids of color and those from low-income households face higher risks<\/a> of both mental and physical illnesses, and not having access to health services.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panchal co-authored an analysis<\/a> of the national landscape for school-based mental health services. It found that nearly one in five public school students receive mental health services in school, with 58% of schools reporting rising demand. There was also a 61%\u00a0 jump in staff concerns about students\u2019 mental health struggles \u2014 including trauma and emotional dysregulation \u2014 from the 2023-24 school year to the 2024-25 one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amid rising need, the Trump administration is trying to dismantle<\/a> the U.S. Department of Education \u2014 a conduit for billions of dollars in federal aid to state and local education agencies, which is then funneled to school districts. (Experts and advocates say the move is illegal<\/a> without congressional approval.) The administration also announced in April<\/a> that it would cancel $1 billion in Biden-era<\/a> school mental health grants, made possible by the most significant anti-gun violence bill in decades<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSchools are taking some new approaches to addressing mental health needs,\u201d said Panchal, holding up Chill Rooms, mental health days<\/a> and the integration of social and emotional learning<\/a> into classroom instruction as examples. But \u201cwe are seeing these different federal actions \u2026 that could ultimately negatively impact how schools are able to support these services for their students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerns, the sixth grader, thought about kids who don\u2019t have access to Chill Rooms and other school-based mental health services. Asked if she thinks these resources should be available to all students, she said, \u201cI think they should.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Story by Venuri Siriwardane. The Jewish Healthcare Foundation has contributed funding to Public Source\u2019s health care reporting. Jefferson Regional Foundation provides funding to Public Source. This article<\/a> first appeared on Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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