Bibb School District receives grant for mental health resources

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Bibb County School District is one of three Georgia school districts to receive a grant for mental health resources. 

The Project AWARE Grant totals nearly $1.8 million, spread out over a five-year period.

Assistant Superintendent of Student Affairs Jamie Cassady says the district will receive nearly $360,000 each year.  The money helps provide mental health training for staff, additional mental health clinicians, and other resources.  

“The grant helps students with what we call trauma,” Cassady said. “And trauma is pretty much when kids have had ongoing exposure to their early childhood development to abuse, neglect, poverty, homelessness, or violence within the community. And then if you want to throw COVID on there that just multiplied or made that more complex.”

Cassady also says they will study the schools’ attendance and behavior patterns to determine which Bibb School gets funding for mental health resources.