The Wellmark Foundation Provides Funding to Continue Children’s Mental Health Initiative in South Dakota

October 8, 2007

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Contact:
Angela Feig
515.245.4551
feigab@wellmark.com

(Des Moines, Iowa) – A $77,250 grant from The Wellmark Foundation will allow South Dakota Voices for Children in Sioux Falls, S.D., to continue a statewide children’s mental health initiative.

South Dakota Children’s Mental Health Awareness Initiative – Phase 3 is the third part of the project launched in 2004 to improve the mental health of South Dakota children by addressing major depression. Previous Wellmark Foundation grants provided core funding for implementation of the first two phases of the initiative.

“This phase will educate parents and professionals who work with children about strategies and resources to help develop emotionally healthy children,” says Susan Randall, Ph.D., executive director of South Dakota Voices for Children, a statewide coalition based in Sioux Falls. “We will focus on outreach to parents, teachers, child care providers and other health educators,” says Randall. Plans include development of a parents’ guide DVD, website and a statewide training program for mental health clinicians.

Initiative partners include the South Dakota Department of Human Services, Avera Behavioral Health Center, American Academy of Pediatrics – South Dakota Chapter, Sanford Children’s Specialty Clinic, South Dakota State Cooperative Extension Service, South Dakota Council of Mental Health Centers and numerous other organizations across the state. For more information about the South Dakota Children’s Mental Health Awareness Initiative, contact Susan Randall at srandall@sdvoicesforchildren.org or (605) 367-9667.

The Wellmark Foundation has provided more than $12.77 million to fund 374 health-related grants in Iowa and South Dakota since 1997, including a total of $1,854,175 to date in 2007. “The Wellmark Foundation works to improve the health of Iowans and South Dakotans,” says Matthew McGarvey, director of The Wellmark Foundation. “The South Dakota Children’s Mental Health Awareness Initiative has helped to educate thousands of South Dakotans about children’s mental health. The next phase of this successful multi-year initiative will provide parents and professionals that work with children with additional resources to prevent, identify and treat depression in children,” says McGarvey.

The Wellmark Foundation is a private, non-profit foundation created by Wellmark, Inc., doing business as Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa. Visit The Wellmark Foundation's Web site at www.wellmark.com/foundation for a list of grant recipients and grant application instructions. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and The Wellmark Foundation are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.