The Mental Well-Being Initiative comprises 39 partners
The St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation will dispense $106,000 in grants to fund three local programs focused on mental health care.
The programs are a Spanish-language therapy program, a financial assistance program for people to access community-based therapy and a mindfulness program for Blaine County K-2 schools, the foundation announced in a Sept. 30 press release.
The foundation, which awarded grants to these programs during its September board meeting, is at the helm of the Blaine County Mental Well-Being Initiative. The initiative was founded in 2023 and today consists of 39 partners which range across the nonprofit, government, educational, health care and business sectors.
Megan Tanous, chief development officer for St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation, told the Express the initiative is the “most significant community collaboration in the Wood River Valley” in decades.
In an interview, Jenna Vagias, project manager for the Mental Well-Being Initiative, said securing funding for the three projects is an “early win” but emphasized that the initiative is still in an early phase.
“It’s really just getting started,” Vagias said. “These initial steps are planting seeds as we think about how this initiative will grow in the future.”
A $30,000 grant will allow the community to pilot a Spanish-language therapy program called Sanerai. The pilot program, specifically designed for Spanish speakers, will offer more than 700 sessions of professional online therapy in Spanish by native speakers. The program is tentatively set to be rolled out in November, Vagias said.
“It’s a major step toward expanding mental health services for our Spanish-speaking population,” Tanous said.
