Editor’s note: This article discusses mental health. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health and needs support, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, available 24/7, can be reached by calling 988. Colorado Crisis Services, also available 24/7, can be reached by calling (844) 493-8255 or texting “TALK” to 38255.
Hoping to bring more awareness to a recently opened mental health facility for students, the Tuchman Family Foundation donated 200 bags of student supplies to Traverse Academy, located within the Cherry Creek School District.
Traverse Academy is a first-of-its-kind mental health facility for Cherry Creek students aged 10-18 who are experiencing a mental health crisis such as suicide ideation, depression and/or anxiety.
The academy, operated by the school district, offers mental health care and educational programming to students, with the ultimate goal of transitioning students back to their original home school.
Wanting to support Traverse Academy, the Tuchman Family Foundation donated 100 welcome bags for students as they enter the facility, as well as 100 “launch” bags for students as they leave the facility and transition back to their home school.
“It’s our hope that we can help create awareness so that more people want to get involved and support this idea, and so that, ultimately, we have more of these types of academies throughout the state and … throughout the nation,” said Ken Tuchman, who founded the Tuchman Family Foundation with his wife, Debra.
Tuchman — who is also the founder and CEO of TTEC, a customer experience technology and services company — said the school district brought Traverse Academy to his and his wife’s attention, and they toured the facility roughly six months ago while it was under construction.
“We were just blown away,” he said.
The Tuchman Family Foundation asked staff at Traverse Academy what materials they needed.
“We know how tight all these budgets are,” Tuchman said. “Anything that we can do to help these teachers so that these kids are more successful is really what matters to us.”
Courtney Throndson, an art teacher at Traverse Academy, said staff carefully selected the items for the bags to set students up for success.
Some of the items in the bags are fidget tools, which can help students work out any restlessness or anxiety they feel, she said.
To encourage mindfulness, items such as journals, aromatherapy and mindfulness cards were added to bags as well, she said.
“The other focus was self care and hygiene,” Throndson said. “The feeling of comfort in your body is incredibly important for mental health and wellness, so we included things like hygiene products, different clothing items and self care items.”
Throndson said she felt gratitude when she learned the Tuchman Family Foundation wanted to donate supplies to Traverse Academy.
“Prior to their initiative, we were trying to figure out — what do we send them off with? And we didn’t have the budget for that to be as impactful as the Tuchman foundation is allowing us to be with this,” she said. “I’m really excited to be able to give them … a toolbox of coping strategies to set them up for success.”
“It really shows me how much the community wants to take care of our kids and their mental health, and that makes me really happy, too,” she added.
The contribution from the Tuchman Family Foundation gives hope to Kimberly Avalos, the principal of Traverse Academy.
“We felt extremely honored that the Tuchman foundation was invested in us and wanted to do this for the kids,” she said.
The welcome and launch bags provide helpful tools for students as they work to improve their mental health, she said.
“Being able to understand that those tools don’t just exist within these walls but can be used lifelong for them is a really important message we want to empower them with as they leave here, so they can continue that journey,” Avalos said.
Avalos said the foundation is helping send the message that the students matter and are worth the investment.
“This community support really helps us to get that message that not only is the school system investing,” she said. “But really, the community really does believe in us (and) really does want what’s best for us. That’s a pretty important message to send.”
Reflecting on Traverse’s first six weeks
Traverse Academy, which has been open for about six weeks, has 12 students currently, with roughly another 20 students who are going through the intake process, Avalos said.
“We’re learning a lot,” she said. “I think, on the whole, things have gone really, really well.”
The students currently at Traverse are either in middle school or high school. There are plans to open up the facility to students in fourth grade and up starting in January, she said.
Avalos said Traverse’s first group of students have gone through the intensive outpatient program and are getting ready to move to the facility’s transition program, which helps prepare them to go back to their home schools.
When asked about the biggest successes in the past six weeks, Avalos said, “Watching these kids come in, in very fragile states, and start to take risks that they wouldn’t have taken before, start to smile, start to communicate about their needs.”
A challenge has been navigating the differences between the clinical world and school world, she said.
“We’re figuring out how to dance together — not step on each other’s toes but be complimentary dance partners,” Avalos said.
Ken Tuchman, of the Tuchman Family Foundation, said he thinks that Traverse Academy is a model that should have started 10 years ago.
“I would argue that we need to have one of these in every community,” he said.
“We don’t have to educate the public that there’s a mental health crisis. What we need to do is actually have a solution to a mental health crisis. This is one of many solutions,” he added.
Tuchman highlighted the importance of being proactive in investing in providing mental health care to young people.
He said it is in the best interest of children, their families and society as a whole to have children who are educated and in a good mental state.
Debra Tuchman, co-founder of the Tuchman Family Foundation, said a person’s mental health and emotional well-being is as foundational as their heart beating.
If a person is not feeling emotionally capable, they cannot learn, she said. She underscored the value of Traverse Academy offering both mental health care as well as education programming.
“I’m so hopeful to see this facility,” she said. “I think it’ll be transformative for these kids.”
Supporting students’ mental health
Traverse Academy serves a specific need within the mental health continuum, said Principal Kimberly Avalos.
“We have other things in … our school district and other students who need access to different levels and different specialties within this continuum,” she said.
Avalos said the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation’s Mental Health Relief Fund has been imperative to helping some students access care.
“That relief fund through the foundation is pivotal in helping to build a bridge for students that may otherwise have been lost in the shuffle or in the cracks,” she said.
According to Cherry Creek Schools, the mental health relief fund helps connect students to a therapist and provides resources for students experiencing different mental health challenges.
The fund has given more than $100,000 to support student mental health initiatives in the school district, and approximately 48 students have been connected to an outside therapist, per the school district.
Navigating health care is difficult, but mental health care is even harder to access and navigate, Avalos said.
“The community support in different initiatives and programs like this, it helps. It helps to build those bridges where they didn’t exist,” she said. “That’s why the investment from the community is imperative.”
Those interested in learning more about Traverse Academy can visit cherrycreekschools.org/TraverseAcademy.
To learn more about the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation and its mental health relief fund, visit ccsdfoundation.org.